DewDrops

Google Doodle

2012-02-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

I absolutely loved today's Google Doodle.

Google celebrated the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens by dedicating a Google Doodle showcasing the characters from the famous Dickens Novels. Anyone who had read the David CopperField or Christmas Carol would be able to identify with some of characters shown in the doodle, but I have to admit, I had to consult the Google Book Blog to identify the entire list of the characters. We have Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim in the front and center; doodle also includes Estella and Pip from Great Expectations, Oliver and his friends from Oliver Twist, and Charles Darnay from A Tale of Two Cities. What I particularly liked about the doodle was the background showcasing a London Street, complete with lamp posts, buildings, windows, et all. Makes you dream about the Victorian era; just as you had imagined it while you were reading many of those Dickens Novels.

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published in serial format, with successive installments appearing each month. Many of his early novels were released in this manner – and Dickens began work on Oliver Twist while in the middle of The Pickwick Papers. He was one of the most influential writers of 19th century English literature and his works include classics such as A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, The Adventures of Oliver Twist, Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend. David CopperField is considered his most autobiographical novel and the first Dickens novel to be written in first person narration.

The Charles Dickens' novels that I enjoyed reading thoroughly were David Copperfield and Christmas Carol. Which is your favourite Dickens' novel?

2011, the year that was ...

2012-01-25T12:52:00.001-08:00

fabulous on many counts. Yet another year passes by and we are all brimmed with the positivity of welcoming a whole new year; time to start fresh, bring in more positivity to life, make new resolutions and break them too. 2011 was a year which will remain very close to my heart on many counts, because it was an year of travel.

I traveled to USA yet again on work and explored quite a lot. Some of the highlights of my travel last year:

Mackinaw Island: A beautiful island in Michigan where only bicycles and horse carts are allowed as a means of transportation. You need to park your car in the city and take a ferry to the island

Las Vegas: The sin city. Yes, indeed it is. Gambling, Shopping, elaborate buffets and some spectacular performances sums up the city.

Grand Canyon: As the name suggests, it is GRAND. One of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life.

Chicago: A beautiful city with wonderful architecture. Innumerable musuems, Millenium Park, Navy Pier, the list goes on.

Sandiego, CA: I absolutely loved SanDiego for its Balboa Park; it was breathtakingly beautiful with several art festivals happening during the time I was visiting. I liked SeaWorld too, a nice way to spend a day with Shamu, the killer whale (the main attraction there). I guess kids would love it because you can closely interact with several animals. I also happened to see one of the most beautiful sunsets at Point Loma.

NewYork: No matter how many times I visit NewYork, it will remain one of my favourite cities in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Broadway Musicals, TimesSquare, MET, Chelsea Market, Empire State Building and awesome street food makes it one of my most loveable cities for me.

Mexico: A trip quite close to my heart. It was our first wedding anniversary trip and I got to experience Mexico in all its glory. One of the highlights was visiting one of the new seven wonders of the world - Chichen Itza, a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya civilization

Here is to more travel and much more joy in life. Hope you all have a fabulous 2012!! (even though I am bit late in wishing you :))

P.S: My sincere thanks to my hubby, my sister, friend M and some of the dear readers who repeatedly coaxed me into start writing again. Thanks a lot ! Yes, I will try my level best not to go into hibernation again :)

We are the Champions !

2011-04-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

I am not a huge fan of cricket, neither do I follow the game very closely. At times, I do watch some interesting/important matches, but my knowledge about the game is very limited (Having said this, I know that many of you will dismiss me as a not-a-true-blue-indian).

Never in my life have I got up at 4AM to watch a match, for that matter I don't like getting up early at all. Never ever have I painted my face with tricolours and watched a match with twenty other friends, that too with my heart pounding continously for a whole nine hours. From the dramatic toss to 54 runs in last five overs to Sehwag getting out in the first ball to excellent partnerships between Dhoni, Gambhir and Yuvraj, it was a roller coaster ride which I thoroughly enjoyed.

For the generations to come, we can say that 'Yes, I was watching the game when Dhoni hit that winning six and India won the World Cup'

Team India - You made it all worth it. And yes, at the end it was all for Sachin !

P.S. Thanks to all my friends who made that match such a memorable experience for me.

Cuisine from Gods Own Country

2011-03-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

As diverse as it is in its religion, culture and ethnicity, India maintains its diversity in its cuisine also. Travel from north to south, or east to west, you can see the cuisine varying to a great extent across the country. Every state has its own speciality dishes and people hailing from the respective states take pride in talking about the regional specialities. Me, being from the Kerala, a.k.a God's Own Country, pride myself in our cuisine and many a time, I am quite surprised to know that people outside Kerala have so many misconceptions about our cuisine. Talk to anyone hailing from North India and he/she thinks we eat only idli and dosa or cook only in cocunut oil. That is so not true. So I had to write this post to clear out some of the common misconceptions.

Kerala cuisine has a multitude of vegeterian and non-vegeterian dishes. Because of its vast coastal line and backwaters, both sea and fresh water fishes are easily available and fish forms a part of the staple diet of Keralites. Coconut groves are in abundance and hence coconut and coconut milk forms an integral part of the Kerala cuisine. Don't be surprised if you see four-five coconut trees well within the premises of each house in Kerala. Kerala is mainly a rice - eating state and a variety of dishes are made of variations of rice flour or whole rice grains.

As the saying goes 'Have Breakfast like a King', let me start with the main dishes that adorn our breakfast table. Ofcourse, we have Idlis - Steamed rice cakes which can be made either plain or adding some shredded vegetables to it, dosas - pan fried rice crepes which are made in a varieties - plain, with several vegetables (that makes it uttapam), set dosa, masala dosa (with a filling made of potatoes, onions, chillis, etc.) and a variety of dosas with different types of fillings (kheema dosa, corn dosa, mint dosa, etc.), upmas - made of rava or vermicelli (with different vegetables of your choice, channa dal, etc). These are the main dishes which you can find in any of the South Indian restaurants across the country.

Now let me talk about some of the dishes which are unique to Kerala. Topping the list would be Puttu, which is a steamed rice cake (in the shape of a cylinder) made from rice powder and cocunut. This can be made in a cylinder shaped vessel or coconut husk (chiratta - puttu) and you can even fill the rice cake with meat, masala, etc. Puttu is normally had with one or more of the following - kadala (channa) curry, pappad, banana or even some meat based gravy.

Pic Courtesy: www.keralaholidays.com

Appam - Slightly sweet rice crepe made in a perfect circle have enchanted many a palate. Appam in normally had with vegetable stew or mutton/lamb stew (Stew is a cocunut based gravy). We don't contaminate appam with add-ons like masalas or fillings, hence appam remains plain, white and true to its form.

Pic Courtesy: www.keralaholidays.com

Idiyyapam - Again, a steamed dish made of rice flour and shredded coconut, but it forms a beautiful flower like pattern.

Pic courtesy: recipe.chayamukhi.com

Oratti - It is Kerala's answer to North Indian Roti or Puchka. It is a rustic flat bread made out of rice flour and shredded coconut.

Pic Courtesy: http://deepann.wordpress.com

Pathiri - Again a flat bread made of rice flour, but Pathiri is very thin compared to Oratti and much more softer. A popular dish among the Muslims of Kerala and they take much pride in mastering the fine art of making good pathiris. Usually pathiri is eaten with sweetended coconut milk (thenga-paal) or chicken/mutton curry, but the less-adventurous ones, even have it with egg curry or vegetable stew.

Pic courtesy: www.salkaaram.com

As we move ahead from breakfast, it is time to talk about lunch and it can't be complete without mentioning about the traditional Kerala Sadhya. Something which forms the backbone of Kerala cuisine is the Traditional Kerala Feast or Sadhya - It is something which every Keralite takes special pride in and is it nothing sort of a visual treat and gastronomic experience. No matter which part of the kerala you belong, making a grand sadhya is matter of pride for every Keralite. Sadhya is served in plantain leaf (with the cornered end of the plantain leaf pointed towards the left if the leaf is kept facing the person) and around 30 different dishes (more or less depending on which region of Kerala) are served in that one plantain leaf. The dishes include papad, sweets (jaggery and plaintain fry), fruits (banana), different curries like avial, pachadi, olan, koottu-curry etc, rice, dal, curd, pickles and payasams (sweet dishes of liquid consistency made with rice/wheat flakes, dal or vermicelli). There is a designated place for every dish in the leaf and the order in which they are plated is also important. There is also an order in which the dishes have to be eaten. First we start with eating jaggery and plantain fries (if this doesn't entice you, you can skip this step also), next in line is rice with dal (with a few drops of ghee poured on top of it), then sambhar (mixed vegetables and dal curry) is served on top of rice, after that rasam (again a very spicy gravy, but the spices in it is supposed to aid digestion). After that a plethora of payasams (kheer) are served. Most probably you will have three types of payasams being served (made rice/wheat/dal, with milk mixed with jaggery or sugar as the base). The number of payasams can even go upto five - six depending on how special is the occasion in which the feast is being served. You can have payasam either in the same plaintain leaf in which you had rice (it takes time to master the fine art of having payasam (something with a liquid consistency) in a flat leaf) or in a glass. The feast usually ends with having a little rice with curd or buttermilk and a banana. Mastering all the dishes to be served in the feast may take a few years, but this is a feast which every woman in Kerala take pride in preparing. I know even those families who have migrated from Gujarat to Kerala taking pride in preparing this feast.

Pic Courtesy:kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com

Because of the vast coastal line it hosts, seafood forms a prominent part of many of the popular dishes of Kerala. Some of the very popular fish dishes are karimeen pollichathu (Pearl-spot fish prepared by wrapping it in banana leaf), prawns ullarthiyathu (stir-fry), fish fry, kanava thoran (cuttle fish, stir fried) and fish prepared with kudampuli (Kerala Tamarind/Garcinia Cambogina) are some of the popular ones. Kappa (tapioca) & spicy fish curry is a great combo that every true Malayali is proud of.

Pic Courtesy: kichencorner.blogspot.com

Pic Courtesy: reshmiskitchen.blogspot.com

This post wouldn't be complete without a mention of the Malabari Chicken Biriyani. The state of Kerala was created in 1956 from the former state of Travancore-Cochin, the Malabar district of Madras State, and the Kasaragod taluk of Dakshina Kannada. People who hailed from the Malabar district is known for their Biriyani (rice prepared with several spices, shallots and chicken). The sheer aroma of a Malabari Chicken Biriyani is enough to make anyone yearn for it. Traditionally it is a dum-biriyani, prepared by sealing the large vessel used for making the dish with rice flour mix and putting charcoal on top of the lid. Now a days, people prepare it in the oven also.

Pic Courtesy: www.keralaholidays.com

I haven't done complete justice to the cuisine within these limited words. The feast prepared by Muslims for breaking the fast during Ramzan/Id, delicacies prepared in Christan homes during Christmas, some of the popular snack items in Kerala like ela-adda (baked cakes with rice flour, jaggery and cocunut milk), paripuvada (fritters made using dal and flour) and my absolute favourite pazham-pori (banana fritters) require another blogpost all together.

Pic courtesy: www.keralaholidays.com

This post brought back so many lovely memories from my childhood where I happily gorged on everything my mom and aunts made for me. Hope this post will entice you to make a trip to Kerala to be in the backwaters and to taste the Kerala special delicacies !

55 fiction : Love is in the air

2011-02-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

A light wind was blowing. There were white roses all around. She raised her eyes to meet his. The rays of the sun were casting a partial shadow on his face. He had his usual smile on his face. She tried hard to control her emotions. It felt surreal yet she uttered “Yes, I do”.

55 Fiction: Inner Demons

2011-01-29T01:14:00.000-08:00

She peered at the mirror through her calvin klein glasses. “Is this really me?” She thought. The demons inside her whispered "Look how fat you have become". She threw the unbitten apple into the trash bin and walked away in her high heels. She had no idea the way led to her own grave.

Letter to a Younger Me !

2011-01-24T01:28:00.000-08:00

Hi girl,

You must be in the middle of another long cramming session. Yes, I know you are preparing very hard for all the engineering entrance exams you are going to give a year later.

I thought I would write a letter to you so that ten years down the line you can't tell me "No one told me so" :)

I know you have several goals etched in your mind and you are one ambitious being. You will achieve some of it and lose some of them, but never cease trying because that is one ability of yourself which you will be so proud of.

You will start earning, will be confused with all the money in the beginning, but will eventually come along.

You will meet a lot of people, travel to a whole lot of places and have awesome experiences.

You will have some bad experiences along the way, but that is how we play this game called 'Life'.

Your heart will be broken, but don't lose faith in love. If you do, how will you ever find your soul mate? And in the end you will find someone who truly loves you. It may take some years, but you know in the end, you are going to find your prince charming in a very shining armour :)

You will read many more books, will have your ideas questioned and your views about several things in life will take a 180 degree turn.

Your sister will remain your best friend. Period.

You will find many more friends. Many come and go and the ones whose remain, are your best friends. You will be amazed if I tell you, the majority of that group you already know.

You know that thing called 'cooking' which you never want to try, believe me, you will start loving it and appreciating it to a degree which you never imagined. On the other hand, Chocolate and Coffee - The two things which you are absolutely addicted to. You will slowly grow out of them.

But you will remain addicted to rain.

You will find a new flair for writing.

You will consider 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' the best book ever.

You will mess up, not once, but several times, over and over, but who doesn't? You will deal with it with so much strength that you will surprise yourself.

Always remember these words by Marilyn Monroe - "Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”

Looking at you now, I can hardly believe the extent to which you will be transformed in the next ten years. But you will do good girl.

With all the love,
An Older you.

P.S. No one told me all of this when I was ten years younger, but it is fine. There is so much more fun in learning it all by yourself ;)

Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

2011-01-13T22:35:00.001-08:00

First of all, I admit, this is 'supposed to' be a children's book and I am still wondering how I missed reading this book in my childhood. But better late than never is the principle I follow in my life :) Believe me, you will enjoy reading this book, no matter what age you belong to. After all, we all have a little child hiding somewhere inside all of us :)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of the funniest children's book I have ever read. Authored by Roadl Dahl, this book became a phenomenal success across the world when it was published way back in 1964. 1971 saw the release of movie version of the book starring Gene wilder, which was also proved consistently popular.

The basic premise of the story revolves around Charlie whose favourite thing in this world is 'Chocolate'. He lives with his parents and grand parents in a small wodden house on the edge of a great town. The family has a mere hand to mouth existence, but they are happy in their own world. The town also hosts the 'The Great Chocolate Factory' by Willy Wonka which produces the yummiest chocolates which are distributed all across the world. What happens inside the factory is not known to anybody in the town. Willy Wonka in an attempt to uphold his trade secret, has made sure that no human enters the big factory. Naturally, there is a huge amount of curiosity to know what actually goes inside that factory.

And then a one day comes when Willy Wonka announces that he has hidden five golden tickets in five chocolates. The kids who find those tickets will be given an entry into the chocolate factory and Mr. Wonka himself will give them a guided tour of the factory. Above all, they will be given a supply of chocolates which will last for a lifetime. This news spread like a wild-fire across the town and hilarious events follow. The extend to which people are ready to go to procure one golden ticket, how Charlie finds his golden ticket, the happenings inside the factory and the final decision by Willy Wonka forms the rest of the book.

The whole book is a fantasy store house. There are Chocolate Rooms, Chocolate Water Falls, Oompa - Loompas, Chocolate Rivers, Everlasting Gobstoppers, Hair Toffees, Great Gum Machine, Eatable Marshmallow Pillows, Lickable Wallpapers, Hot Ice Creams, Fizzy Lifting Drinks, Square Sweets that look Round and a numerous other things which will make you wish you were in the factory instead of Charlie. Another notable feature of the book is the kind of words Roadl Dahl has used to describe various things (I believe this is a common feature across all his books) - Scrumdiddlyumptious, whangdoodles, hornswogglers, snoozwangers - they quite add to the humour and magical quotient of the book. In between all the chocolate, fun and magic in Willy Wonka's world, the author tries to educate the children about the importance of discipline, respecting your elders and obeying them. It is all subtly put inside the book so that children can have a few insights into proper behaviour while they are enjoying reading this book.

Overall the book makes a very good read. It is a big chocolatey magical world out there. It is yummylicious. If you are not yet bitten by the 'Roadl Dahl bug', this is a good book to start.

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This one is the first book I read for the Foodie Reading Challenge. I am glad I took the one with 'Chocolate' as the centrepiece for it :)

Reading Challenges 2011

2011-01-07T02:12:00.000-08:00

Keeping up with my NewYear Resolution to read more, I have decided to participate in a number of Reading Challenges this year. This is the first time I am participating in Reading Challenges and I found the concept very interesting. More than that, I wanted to set deadlines for myself so that I will stick to the habit and complete a set of books. Listed below are the reading challenges for this year.

1. What's in a Name

An interesting concept introduced by Beth - Between January 1 and December 31, 2011, read one book in each of the following categories (The books I have chosen is given right next to the category):

A book with a number in the title: 100 Years of Solitude, Gabreil Garcia Marques
A book with jewellery or a gem in the title: Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl
A book with a size in the title: All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot
A book with travel or movement in the title: To be Decided (Any Suggestions?)A book with evil in the title: Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie
A book with a life stage in the title: Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

2. 2011 Global Reading Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Dorte. I am participating in the easy level in which I have to read one novel from each of these continents in the course of 2011:

Africa - No.1 Ladies Detective Agency
Asia - Midnight's Children
Australasia - Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey
Europe - 84 Charring Cross
North America - Garlic and Sapphires
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you) - 100 Years of Solitude or Love in the time of cholera
The Seventh Continent (here you can either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it) - Twenty thousand leagues under the sea, Jules Verne

3. Foodie's Reading Challenge (My favourite ;) Yummmmmmy!!!)

This challenge is hosted by Margot and I am aiming at the 'Epicurean' level of reading, i.e. 7 to 9 foodie books in the year 2011. Given below are the books I chose.

Garlic and Sapphires Ruth reichl
Tender at the bone - Ruth reichl
My life in France - Julia Child
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School - Kathleen Flinn
A Homemade Life - Molly Wiezenberg
The Sweet Life In Paris: Delicious Adventures In The World's Most Glorious - And Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz (Paperback - 03-2011)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

4. South Asian Challenge

This Challenge is hosted by S. Krishna and I am hoping to be a South Asian Explorer, i.e. reading five books by South Asian Authors or book about South Asia. The ones I have chosen are:

Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh
The Palace of Illusions – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Immortals of Meluha - Amish Tripathi
Desirable Daughters - Bharati Mukherjee
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time - Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

Do you have any suggestions in this category? I am looking for some books by South Asian authors set in some other country. Suggestions please ...

5. Haruki Murakami Challenge

I have been longing to read books by this author for a long time, so when the challenge came up, I jumped at it. I am aiming for a 'Hajime' position, i.e. to read atleast one book by the author. If it gets interesting, I will read more books by the author.

There are several other reading challenges that are doing rounds in the blogs, but with my schedule, I can only afford to participate in these. If I finish all of these books well on time, I may take up some more :)

Happy Reading and do let me know if you have any reading suggestions for the titles mentioned.

NewYear, Tada :)

2011-01-04T01:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is a Happy Happy New Year. There is so much of enthusiasm in the air, people are celebrating the commencement of yet another year (for many this means getting drunk and partying away), everyone is busy making NewYear resolutions (only to be broken within a month), everyone is grinning ear-to-ear and wishing each other a Happy New Year :)

Well, I couldn't help notice the fact that all the optimism in rubbing off on me too. I don't usually make NewYear resolutions. The first time I made them was way back in 2007 and didn't' bother much about it. But this year, I really want to make a list of things I want to do in a year's time and see how many did I achieve by end of the year. I am feeling a never before enthusiasm of welcoming a whole new year. So I decided to make the most of my enthusiasm and make a list of the things I want to do this year. So here they are ...

1) Learn French - I am so fascinated by the language that I am jealous of each and every person who is able to converse in that! Maybe the fascination is coming from all those things I am reading about baking with Paris being hailed as a 'mecca of baking' and books which are all authored by chefs coming from 'Le Courdon Bleu'. Well, I find the language quite romantic too, after all French glorified the whole art of kissing/romancing :)

2) Make an elaborate cake - Taking my new found passion in baking to another level, I want to make an elaborate cake, the kind you find in food magazines and food network for a special occasion. I am scouring the websites and cookbooks for the recipe of that first elaborate cake I am going to make. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

3) Read More - I am a person who loves deadlines, hence in order to make this resolution a reality, I am entering a whole lot of Reading Challenges in 2011. Read, Read, Read is the motto.

4) Write More a.k.a Blog More - Don't panic about making every blog post a perfect one, just write whatever comes to your mind.

5) Don't procrastinate - This is the most important resolution of the year for me. Whatever you want to do, just do it. If you want to talk to someone, pick up the phone and talk. Don't keep anything for a later point thinking you will find a better time to do it. There is no better time, just do it NOW.

6) Get my investments in order - Another important thing which I have to take control of.

7) Cook/Bake More - I love cooking and feeding people. With a foodie hubby, I think this won't be a difficult task. I want to try making macarons - considered quite a temperamental cookie.

So what is your NewYear resolution? Leave them in the comments section and we will take a stock of it at the end of the year, what say?

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Suko is having an exciting giveway this NewYear. Do check it out in her blog. It's all about resolutions :D

When the girl meets the boy ...

2011-01-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

We both met at a picturesque B skul campus ...

The first year in the campus, they hardly spoke to each other, except for a few sentences ...

Second year, they became best friends ...

Third year, they realised they can't live without each other and decided to get married ...

Yes, we got married :D

(Guess this explains my absence from the blog and I promise (as always, sigh!!!) to post more often. Yes, it's a NewYear after all :))

The M - word

2010-10-05T04:45:00.000-07:00

This is a journey through years, during which I have heard the M-word way too many times for my liking.

15 years old:

Mom: "You know there is this guy, who is our family friend's friend's son. He is going to do his MS in USA and his parents wants to get him engaged to be married before he leaves. It would be something like we are giving them a word, nothing more that. Shall we .... "

Me (with my ears not believing what I was hearing): rolls eyes, hello, has someone heard about child marriage yet? &*^%$#

18 years old:

Mom: "You know there is this guy who works in USA, has a good job and all. We are getting way too many proposals of similar sort. Shall we ..."

Me (again rolls eyes): "I have just started my engineering course mom. Let me finish it atleast.

21 years old:

Mom: "Now that you are done with your engineering course, shall we start looking into the proposal that we were getting. Shall we ..."

Me (again rolls eyes): "I want to study further. I want to do my MBA. I don't want to get married right now"

Mom: "You can do your MBA after getting married also."

Me: "No, I want to do it before getting married. I need time."

24 years old:

Mom: "Oh my god, you have grown so old. You have surpassed the marriageable age too. Now that your MBA is getting over, I think we should seriously start looking for good matches. It takes time to get a good guy you know."

Me (gives up at this point of time): Sigh

So you get the drift right? It had been more than ten years and I have heard the 'M - word' way too many times. There were concerned parents, hyper relatives, nosey neighbours and acquaintances. All of them wanted to know only one thing - "When are you getting married?". Well, its beyond my realm of understanding why should anyone else be concerned about when I am getting married. Marriage for me happens when you meet the right person and you celebrate your togetherness with your wedding. It is a natural progression of my life, rather than something that drastically changes my life. It's not a whole new life, but an extension to your existing life where you grow more as a person. I know it comes with a whole lot of responsibilities and adjustments and thats exactly why I call it natural progression. Anyway, it doesn't matter what I thought about the whole marriage thingy. Because, there were a whole lot of people who were thinking, mapping and planning it all out for me.

For the last two years, the pressure to get married had been so much that it was literally driving me nuts. No one payed any heed to whatever you have achieved so far. No one looked into the facts like you worked hard for your degrees or you excelled in your jobs or you are well- read or you have a broad minded view of world or you are a good friend to people or you are always ready to extend an helping hand to people or you never meddled with other peoples lives. These just remained facts that were conveniently overlooked. Because at the end of the day, you are a girl and you are just supposed to get married. If you are not married yet, that means there is something seriously wrong with you. Period. With all my friends and cousins getting married at a alarming rate made me 'the next in line' for sometime now. Coming from a family were the girls are supposed to get married at 21 years old made time was a huge factor against me. I tried to keep myself away from all these talks and concentrate on so many other things in life. My education, job, books, movies, friends, travel - all these formed an integral part of my life.

So what happens next? Well, something very interesting .... :D

Joy of Giving

2010-09-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

The idea of making a difference in this world would have been something that crossed your mind at some point of time. I am excited to finally be doing so - however small it may be. I believe there can be no better start to it, than facilitating education for those who cannot afford it.

IndiBlogger has partnered with Give India for its India Giving Challenge, an event under the Joy of Giving Week. India Giving Challenge, from GiveIndia, is an online fundraising event that encourages NGOs, corporates and individuals to raise funds for their chosen cause with top performers receiving matching grants.

I, along with Indiblogger and GiveIndia, is trying to raise money for the NGO - Wayanad Girijana Seva Trust. The trust I support consists of a small and dedicated team of individuals committed to the development of the tribal communities of Wayanad. Knowledge has the power to bring about a change in the life of these tribal children.

Please go to this link http://www.giveindia.org/give/pledgepage/EducateChildren and donate for the cause. A small help from your side can go a long way in improving the life of these children. Do not hesitate to donate through this Website - it is simple, totally secure and the most efficient way to help me reach my goal. The NGO I have chosen will receive your money quickly and effortlessly. You will receive tax benefits for your deduction in India. GiveIndia will process every donation and provide you with a receipt for the same.

Please forward this to your friends and family who will be interested in supporting my cause.

Lets contribute and revel in the Joy of Giving :)

Awesome giveaways ...

2010-08-30T02:52:00.000-07:00

I am down with a heady concotion of fever and cold. But there are some very interesting giveaways happening in the blogville.

First one is from Sig and she is giving you a chance to "Win $100 or a copy of the cookbook Flavours of the Spice Coast by Mrs.K.M. Mathew".
Check this out: http://blog.sigsiv.com/2010/08/giveaway-announcement-win-100-or-a-cookbook.html

Next one is from Priya who is giving away the book, The Life O’Reilly by Brian Cohen. Check this out: http://priyaiyer.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/author-speak-brian-cohen-a-giveaway/

If you want to participate in either of these, rush to their blogs. Hurry !!!

So long, and thanks for all the fish ...

2010-08-12T02:07:00.000-07:00

This post was long due, but hey, it's not a goodbye post ...

Pop the champagne bottle, the blog marathon has ended. 31 posts in 31 days, phew, I can't believe I did it. Looking back, I am so happy that I decided to do it at the first place and I stick it to it. There were days when I had been soo tired after my work and all I wanted was to hit the sack once I reached back home. Still, I kept at it. I wrote, wrote and wrote everyday. Then there were days when I worked till 3.30AM in the morning and wrote a post after that. All of this wouldn't have been possible without the continous support from all of you. Thanks for all the support, suggestions, post ideas, feedback and criticisms. Loved them all. I made friends with new bloggers, explored new blogs and read a lot more blogs in the past one month. Blog Marathon was a wonderful experience and I loved every bit if it.

I believe the whole experience was a reinforcement to the fact that unless you push yourself, you never know what you are capable of doing !!!

Until the next post, keep smiling and yeah, I haven't forgotten the part 3 of a pair of eyes :)

The day that was ...

2010-07-31T02:39:00.000-07:00

Today, I went shopping with my girlfriends. Five of us shopped until we literally dropped. We shopped for 12 hours straight and I tried on clothes after clothes but still I didn't buy a single piece of clothing today. And thanks to technology, I tried on several clothes, took pics in my camera, send those pictures to my sister in Kerala(through MMS) where she downloaded them to the computer, analysed them with my mom, cousins and aunties and gave me suggestions real time :) Such an innovative use of technolgy, isn't it? I should say today, I am proud of myself to have used technology to my utmost advantage(Hehe, dodges the rotten tomatoes and eggs coming my way). But hey, I wanted them to be a part of the decision making process and this was the only way I could make it happen considering the distance separating us. But it was so much fun. Shopping with girls is always so therapeutic.

Another incident worth mentioning happened today when I was alone, away from my friends for about two hours. I was in a crowded street and I had come there looking for a shop. I couldn't find the shop, I was in that part of the city for the first time, the street was so crowded, I was feeling so inaapropriate to be in that place and I was not getting an autorickshaw to go back to my place. I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable standing in that street and none of the autorickshaws were stopping by. Suddenly an auto came from nowhere and there was a lady inside it. I took a chance and asked her whether she is going to my part of the city. She indeed was going to the same place and readily agreed to my place. I got inside the autorickshaw. We started chatting and talked a lot about each other. She asked me why I came to this part of the city and where am I working, etcetcera. We exchanged a lot of details about each other and I felt so comfortable with her. Upon nearing our destination, I offered to pay half of the autorickshaw charges and she politely refused telling me that she decided to help me out because it was so clear that I was not feeling comfortable in that street. Anyway, the charges were so minimal, but I was touched by the humanity showed by a random stranger. All these happened at a time when everyone thinks twice before helping out some stranger we randomly meet. It was very nice of her to drop to my destination sensing my predicament. And the funniest part is I don't know her name. We talked a lot about each other, but never mentioned each others names. When we reached our destination and got down from the vehicle, I got a phone call and I started talking over the phone. When I finished my call and just turned back she had gone. I felt sad that I couldn't even thank her properly. Random stranger, you may never read this, but please know that I am touched by the small help you extended towards me. It gave me a sense of happiness that I carried in my heart for the rest of the day. Thanks a lot.

The Wind

2010-07-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

With no companion to my mood,
Against the wind as it should be,
I walk, but in my solitude
Bow to the wind that buffets me.

- The Wind by Vikram Seth.

Short, crisp and to the point. I would like to write a poem like this someday :)

When I felt alive ...

2010-07-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you felt alive? Alive as in you feel the fury of the nature on you; the moment which makes you believe in the perfect harmony of the universe. The last time that happened to me was when I visited Niagara falls. What a beauty it was. I was marvelled by the whole picturesque view, truly one of the wonders of nature. In Niagara falls, one of the main attractions is Maid of the Mist, which takes you much closer to the falls in a boat, That in itself is a surreal experience. At the point closest to the falls, three sides of you are surrounded by falls and you are blinded by Mist from the falls. There is nothing else in your mind but the admiration for the falls at that point of time.

But, one of the truly amazing experiences for me was 'Cave of the winds' in which you can climb up a stair of steps and get very closer to the falls. You feel the falls directly hitting you and mind you, the water hits you with such an amazing force that you can't be there directly under it for a long time. Yes, that was the moment I felt alive. I felt the force of nature at its fullest and realized how mortal we are. I was so mesmerized by the whole experience that I didn't want to go away from it. Each time the water hit me, I was getting connected to the universe more and understanding the value of my precious life. I was truly one of the best experiences of my life, an experience of a lifetime.

Pic Courtesy: Sujith Mahapatra

Now tell me, when was the last time you felt alive?

While I was on my bike ...

2010-07-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

She looked closely at her new toy. There is no backing off now. She asked for it afterall. She mounted the bicycle very carefully. Her dad held the bicycle from backside and she slowly started pedalling the cycle. She swayed this side, that side, many a times, she felt that she is going to fall the next moment. She was really scared. But dad reassured her that he is not going to loosen his grip on the bicycle. She held on to it and slowly learnt to master the fine art of balancing on two wheels. The day she balanced a bicycle on her own, she was elated. Her joy knew no bounds. She cycled that day for a longtime.

My cycles changed many a times after that, but one thing that remained constant was my love for biking. I always felt an adrenaline rush whenever I mounted on a bicycle seat. While I used my feet on the pedal to race ahead, I loved the wind touching my face, tousling my hair and I always had a song on my lips. One of the simple pleasures of life.

In my bskul, I used a bicycle for two years. Me and my friends used to go for long drives on our cycles, we had cycle races, night cycling and even slow cycle races. I still remember the morning rush when it would be only be five minutes remaining for the lecture to start and we will rush from our mess towards the cycle stand. We pick up our cycles and zoom we go. Those are the times when I would have cycled at the maximum speed. We had to reach there at any cost before the lecturer closes the door. We used to park our bicycles in the parking area and rush to the lecture halls, at a speed that would have put any sprinter to shame.

When in NewYork, I was always fascinated by sheer amount of activities that goes in and around Central Park. One of the things I always wanted to do was to cycle in the Park and I managed to do that one fine Sunday. I had been putting it off for many weeks because of various reasons like wind speed too high, temperature too low, etc. And when I finally managed to do that, what an experience it was. You can rent bicycles right outside some of the park entrances. While in one of those shops, I noticed the large amount of merchandise associated with biking. There were cycling shots, helmets, goggles, gloves and what not.

We rent our bikes and started going around the park. There are designated paths for cycles and even traffic lights where you have to stop and allow the pedestrians to cross, all right inside the park. While going around the vast expanse of Central Park, there are several things that catch your eye. There will be musicians playing melodious music, people boating in the lake, kids/adults playing different games, baseball game being played in the central ground, lots of people walking around the park, street vendors and a large number of people on their bikes. That was my first experience of using a geared bike also. I had so much fun and I completed two full rounds around the Central Park. Quite strenuous and a very good workout session. I plan to go back for many more next time I am in NewYork.

Pic: My shoes and helmet in the grass in Central Park

Always fascinated with its charm, I think I always go back to being that little girl whenever I mount a bike. All my worries and stress vanish and I start playing hide and seek with wind. Moreover, its so eco-friendly. Three cheers to you bike, one of my first and most favourite toys. You will never cease to amaze with the charm you ooze out on me.

SO what is your favourite biking experience?

Trivia: Lance Armstrong's book 'Its not about the bike' is one of the most inspiring auto biographies I have ever read.

Social networking

2010-07-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restrictive rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar's number, but a commonly cited approximation is 150.

How many friends do we have in our social networking accounts? I think well above this number. I have an orkut account in which I used to be very active until two years back. Then I moved to FaceBook and I gradually became totally inactive in orkut. The simple reason is FB is lot more fun. I have had friends much above the number 150 always in my accounts. But come to think of it, I have hardly known some of them and have hardly spoken to many for years now. Still why are they in my friends list? Because it felt so rude to reject the request from a known person, even though you hardly keep in touch with them. Still, I must say social networking sites have helped me find friends whom I lost touch with after my schooldays; it also keeps me updated on the important events of their lives and re-kindle many of the old friendships. But, one of my favourite pet peeves is 'people trying to make frandship after finding my profile interesting'. Its funny. I don't know when these people will learn to act more maturely and stop 'making frandships' over a website. The crimes that you seeing happening over a social networking site is also alarming.

I think its all a matter of drawing the line and understanding whom you want to 'friend' and whom you should 'defriend' to retain the sanctity of your online identity. After these sites have its own advantages too. Let the number of friends be above 150, after all this is one place where all of your friends can co-exist :)

Interesting Fact: According to a latest study, pictures from FaceBook are increasingly used as evidence while fighting divorce cases in United States.

55 Fiction: A small love story

2010-07-26T02:03:00.000-07:00

I run into your arms when I am depressed or sad. As soon as you touch my lips, I am transported to another world. You play with my tongue and I melt in your arms. You have your own way of making me feel better. Oh Lindt chocolate, what would I have done without you?

Blank ...

2010-07-25T13:13:00.001-07:00

Today, it had been a roller coaster of emotions. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. But at the end of the day I am happy. Maybe that's how life is, you go through so many good moments; then there are bad moments to bring you back to reality and to wake you up. It's like a thunder striking you and telling you "Hello, get your lazy feet back to ground and start toiling again". At the end of the day, everything is evened out. The sum total is always zero, with a tint of happiness remaining (hopefully always) !!!

A pair of eyes -2

2010-07-24T01:56:00.000-07:00

Continued from A pair of eyes - 1

She speaks:

First time I saw him, I was shocked. I didn't know that he was standing right next to me all the while. He smiled and I was in a trance. Even if I had smiled, he wouldn't have seen it anyway. I was too embarrassed to even return his smile and quickly turned my head. It was getting very late for me, so I decided to walk to the nearby autorickshaw stand and take an auto, instead of my usual bus.

After that I kept meeting him in the busstop. We always took the evening buses. He always had a mischievous smile on his lips and he kept looking at me once in a while. I kind of started liking the attention that he was showering me with. Whenever he caught me looking at him, I blushed. Thank god for the hijab, else he would have seen my red face everytime. Once I started giggling after seeing his smile towards me and a friend of mine caught me. I had a hard time explaining to her that I just remember something that happened earlier that day and giggled.

Every day, I noticed something new about him. First, there were those curly locks which kept falling off to his forehead. He seems to be pretty irritated by those locks and kept pushing it off his face. Another day, I noticed that his lips curve to left whenever he smiled. Next day, he was speaking to his friend, I realised he was a weird way of stopping in the middle of a sentence.

Many a time, I thought he will speak something to me, but he never did. Had he spoken something, I don't know whether I would have responded. If someone sees me speaking to him in a busstop, there will be a huge ruckus at home. Babba will scold me to no end and may stop me from going to college the very next day. So I kept quiet and enjoyed all the attention he was giving me. I was happy in those silent moments that we shared.

I don't know when I started timing my visits to the busstop so that I can see him everyday ...

To be continued ...

That's my dad :)

2010-07-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

Home sweet home :)

Guess what, my pappa gifted me the book 'Truth and Beauty' by the Nobel Prize Winner and Astro Physicist S. Chandrasekhar. The book was autographed and presented to pappa by Chandrasekhar himself. He met the Nobel Laureate when he visited University of Chicago way back in 1991. Pappa was always proud of the fact that he could meet Prof. S. Chandrasekhar in person. It was so sweet of him to gift me the book from his personal collection.

Thank you pappa, you are the very best :) :) :) Love you lots. Muuuaaahhh.

Now, the reason for the gift - He likes my blog and the way I write :) Double wow!!!

I am sleeping with a huge smile on my face today.

Have a great weekend everybody :)

55 Fiction: The last letter

2010-07-22T02:58:00.000-07:00

She gulped down the contents of the glass. She looked blankly at the white paper in front of her. What should I write? She thought. Her parents no longer talk to her, her fiancé doesn't understand her. She threw the paper into fire and laid down hoping that this time, death doesn't abandon her.

When I am feeling low ..

2010-07-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you feel horribly low on a given day(whatever reason it may be)? These are some tried and tested things that I do and these work for me like magic.

1) Eat large amount of chocolates :) Works all the time, everytime. The serotonin does it part and your mood is elevated instantly.
2) Call your closest friends and rant about it.
3) Watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S or any other sitcom which you absolutely love. FRIENDS worked like a marvel for me each and everytime I was feeling low after an horrible exam during my bskul days. I used to watch four-five episodes back to back and it worked like a narcotic drug for me everytime.
4) Listen to music. One song which works like magic in my case is 'Aashayein' from the movie Iqbal. I just love the song and it always feel so appropriate when I am feeling low. All you music lovers out there, plug in your headphones and listen to your favourite tracks. Better still, switch on your loud speakers, play music at a very high volume and dance away :)
5) Clean your room. It's very therapeutic. Throw away things you no longer need and make space for new things and thoughts.
6) Go for a run/jog.Exercising is scientifically proven to lift your moods.
7) Shut yourself up for sometime(only for a few hours, mind you), don't talk to outside world and you will feel better yourself in sometime.
8) Analyse the situation, see where you went wrong and check whether you can rectify it somehow - Believe me, you can't do this in the first few hours when you were feeling bad, give it sometime and then go to this step.
9) Finally, whatever happens, remember that there is a solution for everything and nothing is permenant in this world. Even this too shall pass. It is just another phase in life.

Always remember "In the end, everything will be fine. If it's not, it is not the end"

I read some alarming statistics about depression, mental health and suicide rates in India. Why are we so unhappy with our lives when chocolates are just a hand away? Cheer up !!!

A pair of eyes - 1

2010-07-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 20

He speaks:

She had dark kohl rimmed eyes. They were slightly green in colour, dove shaped and deep. In short, they were beautiful. Those eyes were all I could see. Her face was not visible to the outside world. However, I envisioned a beautiful face behind the purdah, the moment I saw those gorgeous eyes. I first saw her on a rainy day when I was waiting for the bus at the busstop. She made haste to the stop, with an umbrella which could barely protect her from the rain. Rain had succeeded in drenching her almost completely. She came inside the shed and seemed entirely irritated with the rain. She kept her bag and umbrella on the side and tried to shake off the water from her purdah. She started wiping her hands in a handkerchief and that’s when she saw me. She looked alarmed because she didn't seem to have realised earlier that I was standing there. That’s when I first saw those eyes. There was something enchanting in them that kept my gaze. She quickly withdrew her eyes and concentrated on taking care of her bag and belongings. As soon as the rain subsided, she stepped out and walked away in a hurried pace.

After that, I met her several times at busstop. Sometimes she came with a friend, most of the times alone and always took the 5 o'clock bus back to her home. Our eyes met several times and she always withdrew her eyes hastily whenever that happened. Her eyes spoke a lot about how her day went so far. The whole gamut of emotions she went through was very efficiently portrayed in her eyes. They went from bright to droopy to sad to red with anger, depending on her mood of the day. I first found it intriguing that I was attracted to a pair of eyes so vehemently and later found it exciting. I started timing my visits to the busstop so that it will coincide with her 5o'clock bus. I was happy just being in her company but couldn't muster up courage to utter a single word to her. I was happy in the silent moments that we shared together.

To be continued ...

Bubbling away

2010-07-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 19

A fine gush of air and I come into existence. I notice the twinkle in your eye when I grow big, but the right mixture and components are also the factors that go into deciding my size. Once I enter this world, I float like a cloud, dance with the wind and fly like a butterfly. You can see rainbow in me and I can see dreams in your eyes. I know that you become a little girl in front of me. You watch me wide-eyed and you try to run after me and snatch me. But one touch that’s all is required for me to vanish into non-existence.

I am the bubble.

Ever loved blowing bubbles using a small loop dipped in soap water? I have and will always be. One of the innumerable joys of childhood which I don't want to grow out of. I go back to being that little girl whenever I hold that loop and see my bubbles floating up in the air.

This is a photo taken by a dear friend Prashant, who is an awesome photographer. We had lost touch for almost four years and recently got connected again through facebook. I was in awe looking at his photographs. So proud of the wondeful photographer you are Kulli :)

A quote I absolutely love

2010-07-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 18

'Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away'

This is a quote I absolutely love. Each time I read it or tell this to someone, I get a high. How true is it? What is the whole point of life if you don't have enough experiences to make it wholesome? What is the purpose of life if you are not ready to take risks and experience it to the fullest?

I believe that life is measured by experiences and unless we explore, how will we experience it? So, make new friends, return smiles, travel to new places, fall in love, try out new cuisines, read books, watch movies, challenge your beliefs, engage in good conversations, take risks, engage in a hobby that you like and love life.

I captured the picture below some months back. It was my first snow and it happened last December. It snowed the entire night and by the time I woke up, the whole apartment area was covered in snow. It was a thing I only read in books and seeing it all in front of my eyes was marvellous.

It was a moment that truly took my breath away. I was so excited to watch snow through the windows, sitting inside my apartment with a hot chocolate in my hand, the entire day. I was so mermerised, like a little child who was experiencing the outside world for the first time. I wanted to hold on to it while there was no tomorrow. It was an experience of a lifetime.

So tell me, what is an experience that you had in your recent past that took your breath away?

P.S: I googled a lot to find out who wrote quote, but all I could find out was that the quote was originally on a Carleton greeting card. If you get anymore info on this, please let me know.

55 Fiction - A Present

2010-07-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

“Honey, look what have I got you”, gushed her father, handing over yet another Barbie doll. She looked at the doll; it had gorgeous face and shining hair. Seeing her blank face, her father asked her whether she wanted some other birthday present. She muttered “Time with you”. His blackberry buzzed almost the same time.

Author's Note: This is for you anon, you know who you are :)

A new dimension to reading

2010-07-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 16

I owned my first real book(something other than children's magazines/books) when I was 10 years. I had to coax my dad a lot to get my hands on that book. He complained how costly it is, however was more than glad to buy that for me. Ever since, my relationship with the books had been a long lasting one. I got books as gifts; I borrowed them from libraries; I rummaged through huge piles of them during book exhibitions; I exchanged them with my friends and when I started earning, I used to spend a huge share of my salary on books. They gave me company when I was sad; they gave me company on a rainy night; they inspired me through quotes; they told me stories of places and people which I have never seen or heard of. They were my companions in exploring the world unknown.

Nowadays, whenever I open Amazon.com to search for a book that I read about or to check for its price, their home page always greets me with an advertisement on Amazon Kindle. They say its Amazon's No.1 bestseller(What is the need of using No.1 and bestseller in the same sentence. Any thoughts?). They even have free reading apps to go with it. They have two versions of it currently - Kindle(6 inch one) and Kindle DX(9.7 inch one). It's slim, can hold upto 3500 books and has features like automatic battery backup, full image zoom, adjustable text size, bookmarks, built-in dictionary and audiobooks. I find a pretty cool device to have. You can carry 3500 books with you all the time, pretty nice, right?

Lets go three years back.

"An e-book and me? Oh, please. I would never love to read an e-book. Sitting in front of a computer and reading an whole book? As it is, I spend so much time sitting in front of computer, I don't want to read an whole book sitting in front of it. I love the feeling of holding a book close to me, turning the pages with my fingers, a lazing around in my couch or bed. I don't think I will ever read an e-book"

The above words were uttered by yours truly exactly three years back. So what happened in the next three years?

The first e-book I ever read was "Rich Dad Poor Dad". It somehow came inside a folder which I downloaded from my b-skul LAN. I started reading it out of curiosity and got hooked to it because of the amazing fundas he gave about money. Before I could realise it myself, I was scrolling pages after pages and in no time, I finished the book. I totally liked the book, above all, I was surprised that I could actually finish reading an e-book. I was amused at myself.

The next one was 'How Opal got drunk, got kissed and got a life'. I read this as an e-book because I didn't want to spend money on a paper back for two reasons: It was a chick-lit and I didn't expect it to be any good. Still, I wanted to read it because for all the controversy it created about Kavya Vishwanathan plagiarising from two books of Megan F. McCafferty. I didn't enjoy the book much, but there I finished reading my second e-book.

It broke a huge barrier inside me. I came to realise that its not so difficult to read an e-book. I read articles, news, papers and so much other online content, then how different is it to read an e-book? Not much. Since then, I have read a few e-books and I don't find it a daunting experience anymore.

Still, I have bought all the books which I really wanted to read and find reading a paperback/hardbound a more enjoyable experience than reading an e-book. Seeing all these ads of e-book readers make me realise they are the future of reading. Who has the space and resources for carrying all the huge books when you can do it all in an e-book reader? An e-book reader or e-books are much more convenient and with e-book readers coming up with so many features, it makes reading a pleasurable experience too.

But, if we digitalize every book that is available to us, won't we have libraries any more? Won't we borrow books?

How will we show off our book collection?

How will we exchange books to read?

Would the parents read their children bedtime stories through a Kindle or Nook? What will the children read without all those colourful picture books?

No more book exhibitions? :'( No more second hand bookstores? :'( :'(

No more spending hours on a Landmark or Crossroads? How will I pass time when I am all alone? :(

Sigh, the one advantage that I can see is lesser number of trees being cut for making paper and hence, a greener world. Though I have kind of accepted the fact that e-book readers/e-books are the future, I refused to buy a Kindle while I was in US. I would hold on to my paperbacks/hardbounds/second hand books as longer as I can. I may go to a phase wherein my books and an e-book reader can co-exist. But what can replace that joy of holding a new book in hand, smelling its fresh pages, flipping through the pages slowly and arranging it all in a book shelf. Nothing can beat the euphoria of being surrounded by so many books either.

Happy reading folks and have a great weekend ahead !!!

An ode to Maggi

2010-07-15T01:20:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 15

She looked into the pan as her mamma crushed the maggi and put it into boiling water. Masala was added next and the mixture was stirred into perfection. She waited for that two minutes to get over, with her mouth watering over the thought of her tasty snack.

"Mummy bhokh lagi, bas do minute! School se aate dhoom machaate
Ek hi baat pe manaate, Maggi Maggi Maggi!" - A jingle that we all have grown up hearing.

Maggi had always been my favourite junk food. During my childhood days, it was eaten once in a while, as a snack or when I was hungry at the odd times. I have a story of messing up maggi when I tried to cook it for the very first time :) Can someone go mess up maggi too? Yes, I did :) I read the package instructions so thoroughly that I timed my maggi and it ended up uncooked. Mom had to cook it again to make it edible. :|

Some years later, Maggi became my staple food. I was doing my internship in Mumbai, and I used to eat Maggi everyday, read "everyday" for dinner. I tried to experiment with Maggi a lot those days. I tried adding different veggies, scrambled eggs, etc. to make more tasty/healthy :) I never got tired of it and it was always the safest option. You can't mess up Maggi really. Can you? Oh ok, everyone is allowed one mistake in life, right?

During my MBA days, I discovered a whole new facet of Maggi. The whole economy of my B school survived on Maggi. We had plain maggi, veg maggi, egg maggi, onion maggi, fried maggi, chesse maggi, tomato maggi and any other variety of maggi which you can think of. We had all the eateries in our campus competing with each other to provide as many varieties of maggi as possible. Had maggi not been discovered, I think many of our batch mates would have gone without food for days :) Fond memories of those days include going to have maggi in the nearby eatery as late as 3AM in the night(or morning, whatever you want to call it), skipping dinner all together so that we can have maggi late into the night and having maggi for lunch, dinner, midnight snack or whenever we feel like. I told you, the whole economy survived on maggi :)

After a long hiatus, I had maggi three months ago in US. It was late into the night; I was too tired to cook anything and hungry. I looked through the cupboards, and found a maggi packet up in the shelf. Viola, I cooked it in no time and my favourite 'junk' food was ready. While digging into it, I remembered my days in B school and internship days when I survived solely on Maggi. I was so happy that day, as a little child who found her lost toy back.

Maggi, no matter how many McDs/CCDs or Baristas come up, no matter how much McVeggie try his best to lure me, no matter how much more packaged/ready-to-eat foods market themselves, you will remain my favourite junk food. I promise, no one else will take your place. Three Cheers to You, may you continue spreading your charm in two minutes always :)

What is your favourite maggi story? C'mon, don't tell me you don't have a maggi story, everyone has one :D

The War

2010-07-14T04:30:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 14

White soldiers and black soldiers glared at each other. They were both staying at the nearby towers. The only thing that separated them were two glass panes. The glare was so intense that it could have broken the glass panes itself. The white soldiers stuck their tongue out, black soldiers mocked back at them with a hand gesture. White soldiers shouted "We will see you at the battlefield", black soldiers shouted back "So be it". Strategies were decided, plans were plotted and weapons were sharpened. They waited impatiently in their towers; there was smell of blood in the air. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours. At last, the moment they were all waiting for arrived. They held their breath.

But sadly, that day the diner decided to put only salt in his salad and no pepper. Alas, there was no war as expected. They waited for the next diner so that they can meet at the battlefield.

Authors Note: This post is dedicated to my dear friend PB, who is very sad today. Please send your wishes his way so that he will feel better. PB, I hope atleast you smiled reading this :)

The Chair

2010-07-13T04:46:00.001-07:00

She slowly removed the cobwebs from her attic doorway. Suddenly some dust fell on her from the roof. She coughed twice. She had always been allergic to dust. She looked around, the attic was dim-lit. She had a hard time adjusting to the light in the attic. Today she came here to look for an old tool box. It had been so long since she came to the attic. Recent pregnancy and child-birth prevented her from moving around much, let alone the attic.

She rummaged an old cardboard box with the hope of finding that tool box. She searched for a while, got dust covered all over her body, but all in vain. She couldn't find that old tool box of hers. Disappointed, she was about to get out of the room and close the door behind her. Just then, she noticed that chair. Abandoned, in one corner of the room, the chair lay fully covered in dust. She was surprised to find it here because she had long forgotten the existence of this chair.

The chair and she have a long story together. The earliest memories of chair include her Pa reading newspaper diligently, sitting in this chair, every morning. Many a time, she climbed up into his lap while he was sipping his morning coffee and rested her head on his chest. He would continue reading the paper and tell her one or two stories from that days news. Sometimes, she came back from school and insisted that she wanted to eat sitting in the chair, much to the resentment of her mom. Later in college days, the chair remained her favourite hang-out place at her home. She loved spending hours, sitting in it and reading her favourite books. She cried sitting in it when her heart was broken for the first time, she drifted off to sleep while watching her favourite late night tv shows. The chair grew as a part of her and she always felt comfortable in its arms.

Somewhere in the folds of time, as days progressed to months and months to years, the chair was moved to attic. It happened as a natural progression of life. Thinking about it now, she believes that happened after her Pa passed away. She couldn't look at that chair without seeing Pa in it. Soon, she forgot about the chair and other priorities started shaping up her life.

She was woken up from her day dream by the wails of her new born son. She directed her maids to clean the chair and bring it to the front porch of the house.

With her son in her arms, she walked slowly to the front porch. The chair had settled in the porch as if it has a long association with this house. She sat in the chair, with her son's head resting against her chest. While she patted him to sleep, she felt life has come a full circle. She felt that somewhere up above her Pa must be smiling at this beautiful picture.

Authors Note: This post was triggered by a picture that was send to me by my friend Madhu. He sent it to me thinking that I will get an idea for 55 fiction, but I couldn't contain the story in 55 words :) The picture is given below:

Madhu is a Freelance Eclipse Trainer and Consultant and is the master mind behind the website eclipseBible.com. He also blogs about his experiments and the latest advances in Eclipse over here

Stamp Collection - A forgotten hobby?

2010-07-12T03:57:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 12

She looked hard. Three dusty hard bound books peered back at her from the bottom shelf of the cupboard. She picked up one of it. It turned out to be a stamp album, with several stamps sorted by countries, arranged alphabetically. She dusted it with a soft cloth

I used to collect stamps during my school days. That was the first hobby I had developed. Me and some of my friends used to collect stamps carefully extracted from the mails that our parents and relatives received and arranged them in a stamp album. We took those albums to school and showed off our collection to each other. Whenever we had duplicate stamps, we exchanged them with others so that our collection will have stamps from all the countries in all the continents. The person who had stamps from a varied number of countries were always looked upon with awe. I also had stamp albums which we were passed on to me from my cousins. I used to go to exhibitions to collect stamps; I used to exhort my relatives coming from far off places to get me stamps of those countries.

A few basic items of equipment are needed to collect stamps. Stamp tongs or tweezers help to handle stamps safely, a magnifying glass helps in viewing fine details and an album is a convenient way to store stamps. The stamps need to be attached to the pages of the album in some way and stamp hinges are a cheap and simple way to do this

I clearly remember the day our teacher taught us a lesson on stamp collection. She told us that this hobby will help us improve our knowledge of far off places and whenever we see a stamp, we should try and ask ourselves several questions about it. Me and my friend had a laugh riot that day looking at the stamp of Mecca Masjid and asking all sort of stupid questions (No offence to Mecca Masjid, it was all innocent fun that we had).

This makes me wonder does anyone collect stamps anymore? I don't know any kid who collect stamps anymore. None of my cousins do that, they are far better off with their PlayStation and XBOX. But, do we have any means of collecting them anymore? In this age of email and internet, how many of us send snail mails? I myself haven't used stamps for a long time now. If less and less people use stamps, would stamp collection be a long forgotten hobby? :(

I would however end this with a few stamp collection trivia.

- Stamp collecting is not the same as philately, which is the study of stamps. A philatelist may, but does not have to, collect stamps.

- The first postage stamp, the Penny Black, was issued by Britain in 1840 and pictured a young Queen Victoria.

- There are many types of stamps-for example, commemorative, definitive, and special-and formats such as sheets, booklets, or coils. Stamps may be conventional adhesive ("lick-and-stick") or self-adhesive ("no-lick, peel-and-stick").

- The most popular US postage stamp sold over 120 million copies. It was a 1993 stamp of rock singer Elvis Presley.

- The only country to print stamps without its name on them is Great Britain. This is okay because they invented the stamp

Did you use to collect stamps? Any stamp collection stories from childhood?

Info coutesy: ducksters.com, wikipedia, stampcollectingbasics.com

Moved again !!!

2010-07-11T02:56:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 11

Yesterday, I packed all my stuff and moved places again. In the last three years, I have done it way too many times. You pack all your stuff, move to a new house/place to stay, unpack everything, make it your home and by the time you get accustomed to the place, it's time for you to move again. Last three years had seen me doing this at least ten times. I stayed in at least four different states of India and lived abroad too. I have changed my mobile number way too many times, much to the chagrin of my friends and relatives.

The whole point of all of this is I am getting tired. I am all for travelling, but I wish at the end of the day I can come back to a place which I can call home. I wish I can know where I am going to be after three-four months. But I don't see it happening anytime soon. I am sure that for the next one year I am going to pack and unpack many more number of times. My job doesn't allow me to set up everything in one place and settle down there. Not that I am complaining, but yesterday was the last straw. I hate packing and unpacking now. And how am I supposed to carry a quarter lifetime of memories in four suitcases?

I think I am getting old :/

My sins against gender stereotypes

2010-07-10T06:14:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 10

IHM started it and I am taking this up myself because its so much fun :)

Have you ever wanted or done something your gender is not supposed to?

If you are a woman,

Have you ever wanted something that is considered ‘manly’ ? Like a basketball, a cell phone, a dog, a camera or a new laptop? A new car or motor bike? Ever wanted to be a pilot? A doctor or not a nurse? And the manliest want of them all – The remote! ;)

If you are a man,

Have you ever wanted something that only women are supposed to want – like bags, shoes, clothes, creams, perfumes, babies, flowers? A peaceful home and a happy family? Have you ever been afraid of the dark or of insects?

As a kid did you ever want to play ‘teacher-teacher’, cooking or did you like playing with a doll? Have you ever enjoyed cooking? Bought something in pink? Loved chocolates?

Are magazines and books, TV News and blogs for men or for women?

Religion and God? Pets? Politics? Air planes and cars? Technology? – Who should want them, men or women?_________________________________________________

So here’s a tag – Please list at least ten things you have ever wanted or done which your gender is not supposed to.

The tag is called ‘My Sins against Gender-Stereotypes’. And you must tag twelve friends or else you will be cursed to wear blue clothes pants if you are a woman and pink shirts if you are a man – for next twelve years :)

1) I have travelled alone in all the major cities in India and United States too. I love travelling and I really enjoy it even when I am travelling alone. I have travelled alone by all the modes of transport, except for a ship.
2) I have eaten alone in restaurants. I have long learnt to avoid people's glances and carry on with my eating. I have gone to restaurants and asked for a 'table for one' when the usher himself was surprised to hear that.
3) I don't like pink and I seriously don't understand this obsession with pink clothes, bags, shoes, bed covers, etc.
4) I don't like cuddly teddy bears either. I can't dream of getting one as a present ever. I have told this to all my close friends too. "Please, please don't ever gift me a teddy as my birthday present"
5) I like intelligent conversations. Any conversation which challenges your thoughts/beliefs piques my interest; anyone who can strike an intelligent conversation; I love both of them equally. Want to discuss a book? a movie? some current happening? or anything worth discussing? Bring it on, I am always ready for it. I love debates too :)
6) I love books, but not chick-lit. A total no-no of me.
7) I love new gadgets and technology. I own a DSLR camera and was gifted an IPad on my birthday. Two of my most prized possessions at this point of time.
8) I hate saas-bahu serials and I don't watch much of TV. But I love watching tennis matches, Formula 1 and Football on television.
9) I love trekking and biking. These are two of the things which I am passionate about. I can also walk long distances without any complaints.
10) I will end this tag with something I want. I wish I can walk through any street in this world without being afraid of the fact that I am a woman and I could be attacked.

Yet, I love flowers, diamonds, babies, clothes, shoes, perfumes, home food, dancing, romantic movies and my family.

And I tag Pratibha, Dhanya, Aparna, Hitha, Kishley, Bindu, Sayesha, Sunshine and anybody who would like to take it up. I want so many of my blog readers/friends to take this up and give their answers, but sadly, they don't have a blog. PB, Pooj, RM, SD, Madhu, KMK, please feel free to use the comments space.

I am off to join the Facebook community. Do the tag fast and join me there also.

I have sinned ...

2010-07-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 9

I have sinned. The crime that I committed is not a petty one. It’s something that can lead to enough misunderstandings and wars :| It has the power to destroy, destruct and annihilate.

Grammar Nazis came looking for me and brought me before the jury. The jury consisted of Wren and Martin, Lynne Truss, my English teachers from school and The Queen (afterall, its her English). Yours truly stood before the jury, eyes downcast, and head heavy with shame; waiting for the verdict.

The jury started reading out the charges against me.

Charge No. 1: She has used lets instead of let’s on many occasions, be it while inviting people over or going out with friends.

Lynne Truss: “Hmm, interesting dewdrop, you think apostrophes can be used and omitted whenever you want? Haven’t I written one whole book on this?”

English Teacher from third standard peers through her dark rimmed glasses.

The Queen: “The kids of this age have no respect for the legacy that I have built over these years”

Charge No. 2: She has written innumerable mails ending with “Please revert back to me in case of any doubts”.

Dewdrop(in her mind): “I want to dig a hole and bury myself now”

Wren and Martin: “By reverting back, are you inferring that they should come back to you with double the force?”

English teacher from fifth standard faints :|

The Queen: “The kids of this age ... legacy ... no respect ... ”

Charge No.3: She has ‘given’ many exams instead of taking them.

Wren and Martin, Lynne Truss (with a disappointed look): “No comments”

English Teacher from fourth standard leaves the room.

Charge No.4: She has used ‘a few bucks’ in conversations way too many times

Dewdrop(thinking aloud): “Sorry Rupee or Rupiya”

Wren and Martin: “A slang, oh god, I better not comment on this”

Lynne Truss: “I don’t appreciate the use of slangs itself, forget about Indianising it”

The Queen: “Oh, the kids of this age ... blah blah ... legacy ... no respect”

Jury Verdict: Go back to your school grammar textbooks, learn from Wren and Martin’s grammar textbooks; Lynne Truss’s ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ (which you have been putting off for so long now) and read, read and read more.

Dewdrop accepts the verdict wholeheartedly.

Sue conducted a Red Marker Blogathon in the month of June. I couldn’t participate in it because I just discovered her blog yesterday. However, I sat up and read all the posts related to the Red Marker Blogathon through the night. I learnt a lot, I laughed at some funny anecdotes, at the same time, I was ashamed to see some of mistakes I make in my daily English usage. I am far from reading or writing perfect English. But, I am making a conscious effort to improve myself. Whenever someone corrects something that I have written or told, I appreciate it.

We Indians are known for indianising the Queen’s English, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t write or speak language in a proper manner. I have listed below some of the common mistakes we make so that we all can learn from it.

- How many times have we used The Greengrocer’s Apostrophe at the wrong places? ‘I went to buy some book’s and I have many friend’s’, when the usage of apostrophe in these cases are totally uncalled for.

- I am tensed – Really? Past or Present, it remains tense: I am tense, I was tense.

- The difference between It’s/Its or you’re/your– Its is possessive form, It’s means It is or It has. You’re = You are, Your is again the possessive form. We are combining two words using the apostrophe ‘.

- You know, you are beside me now, but there can be someone besides you in my life :)

- The ubiquitous usage of ‘Anyways’ – How many more times does someone have to tell us that its ‘Anyway’, please omit the ‘s’.

- Usage of marriage instead of wedding – Believe me, no one other that the husband and wife can say how their marriage is, but you can very well ask your friend "How was Priya’s wedding?"

- Mixing up ‘can’ and ‘may’ – ‘can’ denotes the ability to do something and ‘may’ denotes permission. “You can enter the class, but you may not”, the teacher says

- We ‘lose’ the game and the ring becomes ’loose’, not the otherway round.

- You TELL someone something, but you SAY something to someone.

Beware, Grammar Nazis can come looking for you anytime. Let's start with simple rules like clicking that spell check/grammar check in MSWord or Outlook before sending out something; proof reading; or asking someone to proof read what we wrote. Lets respect the language and pave the way for better communication.

Do you have any pet peeves that you would like to share? Funny anecdotes related to the usage of a language? In the meantime, let me go and get my copy of 'Eats, shoots and Leaves'.

55 Fiction: Companions

2010-07-08T01:55:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 8

“You are treading muddy waters”, they tried to warn her. She didn’t listen. She carried on with her stride, oblivious to her surroundings. No matter how neglected, they remained with her, through highs and lows. After an hour long run, she placed them carefully in the shoe rack. They waited dutifully till the next dawn.

A broadway musical

2010-07-07T04:01:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 7

I was first introduced to the world of broadway musicals two years back, when I visted NewYork. Before that, the only musicals which I was familiar with were some movies like 'My fair lady' and 'Casablanca'. I was thrilled and fascinated by the whole concept of the broadway musicals. The effort that goes into making a musical itself made it 'wow' factor for me. The actors, dancers, singers, chorus members, stage managers, musicians, directors, choreographers to stagehands, dressers, hairdressers, designers, box office personnel and ushers, work in unison to make the musical a success.

New York city's Broadway Theatre district is a popular tourist attraction. The Theatre district comprises of a lot of theatres hosting a variety of musical shows belonging to various genre like comedy, horror, romance, family, ectectera. Whenever I walk through the broadway street, I am fascinated by the huge billboards, bright lights and enormous theatres. Seeing a broadway musical was high on the things-to-do whenever I visited NewYork. First time, due to time constraints, I couldn't get tickets for any of the shows other than Legally Blonde. I had earlier described that experience here.

Next time I visited NewYork on work, I was adamant that I have to catch upon 'Phantom of the Opera'. I had heard so much about the show that not watching it was not an option this time around. After many weeks of procrastination, I ventured out one fine morning to the streets of NewYork, to experience the musical. The weather was perfect; the streets were swamped equally with NewYorkers and tourists. It was a Saturday and by the time we could reach the Majestic theatre, we were late for the afternoon show by five minutes. I didn't want to miss the show by even five minutes, hence we decided to spend the day in the city and watch the matinee show. We finalised on the Front Mezzanine tickets for the show. For the uninitiated, there are two types of tickets for a musical: Orchestra and Mezzanine. Orchestra tickets house the seats at the ground level and right in front of the stage and Mezzanine tickets house the seats at an elevated area. Yours truly had done some research earlier and had come to know that the Mezzanine seats give a better view of all the parts of the stage and the act. But this is purely a personal choice, I know many people who like Orchestra seats better.

The show began sharp at eight and I couldn't take my eyes off the stage even for a moment. Based on the French novel, Le Fantom de l'Opera, this musical is the longest running musical in broadway. The theatre in which the show is hosted truly lives upto its name, it is indeed 'Majestic'. With intricate work in its ceiling and walls and perfect lighting, the moment you walk into the theatre, you are captivated by the world of Phantom. Brilliant performances by all the actors, well co-ordinated orchestral music and enchanting sets makes the musical an out-of-the-world experience. The swiftness with which they change the sets and costumes, the technicalities that goes to bringing the light and sound effects together and the sheer brilliance of the whole act, mersmerises you for the whole two hours.

A special mention to music by Andrew Webber which captivates you and keeps you on your toes at the same time. 'Amgel of Music', 'Phantom of the opera', 'Music of the Night' are just some of the soundtracks which brings this whole musical to its glory. The actor who plays 'Phantom' gives such a commendable performance that you sympathise with him, feel his agony and desperation, all throughout the musical. Christine and Roal also play their part to perfection, complementing each other.

A must watch for anyone visiting NewYork, this show is by far the most visually appealing and enthralling experience of my life. I plan to go back for many more broadway musicals. Its a great experience.

Do you have any broadway experience which you would like to share? Or any show that you recommend?

Its Coffee Time !!!

2010-07-06T04:10:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 6

Its drizzling outside; I can see the raindrops slowly hitting the window panes and flowing down. They form patterns on the pane, try to do a small dance before flowing in unison to the ground. Suddenly, I feel the urge to have a coffee. I am surprised at myself because I had left the habit of having coffee or tea for quite sometime. Nowadays the only time I drink I either coffee/tea is when I visit somebody's house and they offer me a cup of tea/coffee. I play with idea for sometime and the craving takes over me. I pick up a few notes and head over to the nearby barista. On reaching barista, I casually remark to the boy at the counter. "One Cafe Mocha, please. Take-away". Wasn't mocha always my favourite? In my coffee drinking days, I could count in my fingers the occassions when I had ordered something else. He nods, I pay him and he sets about making my coffee. With amazing dexterity, he juggles the cup, coffee bean powder, the bottle of chocolate sauce, the steamer and milk bottle and viola, the mocha is ready. I pick up the coffee and head back to my desk.

Back at my desk, the rich aroma of the coffee fills my nostrils, arousing my senses instantly. I take one sip and the rich nutty flavour fills my mouth, lifting my spirits. The caffeine has its own way of spelling a cast on our body with its magic. Holding the coffee cup, gazing into the rain outside, I wonder how my relationship with coffee have evolved over these years.

While I was staying with my parents, well after my bournvita-drinking ages, I used to have three cups of coffee daily. A black coffee early in the morning, one filter coffee with breakfast and another with snacks in the evening. Those times, my mom brewed the excellent filter coffee, added a drop of her love and the end product was amazing. back then, I was entirely a coffee person. I refused to drink tea and when I went visiting my relatives, my aunts had to prepare coffee especially for me. I never took tea from restaurants or friends' place or my own home. It was always coffee for me. I was in love with the beverage. It acted as a mood lifter, energy booster and a tasty beverage - a very faithful companion for all the times.

Once I moved out of my home, the luxury of someone brewing a cup of coffee was over. Inaccessibility to a well-equipped kitchen, prevented me from brewing a coffee for myself. So my coffee drinking pattern changed from regular coffees to once in a while coffee with friends. Still, CCD stayed the favourite hang out place with friends and hence coffee drinking was confined to weekends. This continued for the next two years when I was in Bangalore.

During my MBA days, our mess served regular tea and by that time I had gone from a tea-hater to I-am-ok-with-drinking-tea person. I used to take tea once in a while and my dear friend M was a huge tea-lover. Whenever I used to go out with her, we always drank tea. Coffee drinking was a rarity those days.

Once the MBA was over and I came to Hyderabad, I stopped drinking tea or coffee for purely health reasons. Tea or Coffee was limited to very very rare occassions like meeting up with a friend in a coffee shop or while visiting my parents back home. However, over these years, two things remained constant in my life: First, a black coffee, early morning from my mom is still one of the best things in my life. Second, 'Never ever in my life can I take coffee to stay awake for an exam. I can take coffee and stay awake and have fun, but for studying an exam, a coffee never helps' :|

As you can see, my relationship with coffee has evolved over a period of time. I went from an ardent coffee lover to occasional coffee drinker to a very rare coffee taker. Why am I reminded of all of these today? Because even today, when a rainy day comes, it becomes all cozy and I need someone of lift my spirits, I still go back to my age old friend. I still go back to your nuttiness, your flavour, your aroma and you my friend, never disappoints me. You do your duty perfectly, no matter how many years I have neglected you, no matter how disappointed you were when I chose other beverages over you. We may have many more rocky patches to tread on, but we will stick together for many more years to come.

Cheers to a cup of coffee :) So, what is your coffee drinking experience?

The weekend that was ...

2010-07-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

fun filled with good sporting action and a boring movie !!!

Saturday evening was spent watching Germany-Argentina match in hard rock cafe with four football crazy, Argentinian fans. Me for once haven't watched a football match completely, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of watching this match. The first half was thoroughly entertaining, the atmosphere inside HRC was electrifying with people supporting both the teams. The second half was entirely in germany's favor and the mood at our table had become quite sullen, by the last few minutes. Klose, Muller, Ozil, Podolski, Schweinsteiger and co. put up a good show, but how I wish Argentina had won. I had a hard time consoling some heart-broken Argentina/Messi/Maradona fans, the look on their faces was worth capturing, but I didn't dare to do it for entirely health reasons :)

Sunday evening, I watched 'I hate luv storys'. Karan Johar trying to make a spoof on his own love stories is commendable, but this movie, by far is the most ridiculous one from his kitty. Absolutely no story line, below par performances, no good songs even. I even felt that the editor forgot his/her scissors somewhere. And how I thought this one is going to be different :( The only saving grace was a few good jokes here and there, esp, 'Idhar Udhar ki batein, vagera, vagera' one. I can't give more than one star for this movie. Watch it at your own risk.

So how was your weekend?

55 Fiction: Dolls

2010-07-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 4

“Don’t go”, she said. He looked at her. She was teary-eyed. He wished he could do something about it. Instead he said, “I can’t even promise you that I will come back”. Just then, the shopkeeper took him and wrapped him in a glossy giftcover. He started his journey to make another little girl happy.

Authors Note: This is my first attempt at 55 fiction. While writing this I could understand how difficult it is to potray your thoughts in lesser words. But, if you can manage do that, how powerful it can be :)

My first Meme

2010-07-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 3

Sunday Stealing have this interesting meme going on, and they are more than happy that we steal it :) So I decided to be one of their thieves and here are my answers:

1. What curse word do you use the most?
Oh S**t. This is the only curse word that I use.

2. Do you own an iPod?
I don't own an iPod, though I have gifted an iPod to my sister. I am not much of a music person. But I own an iPad, does that count? :P

3. What person do you talk to on the phone the most?
My close friend

4. Do you still remember the first person you kissed?
Must be one cute little kid

5. Do you remember where you were on 11/9/01?
I was in my home in Kerala. Me, my mom and sister watched the twin towers collapsing in television, in utter shock.

6. What was the last movie you watched?
Raavan. Aishwarya looked beautiful, cinematography was good. But at the end of the movie, I was asking myself "So what was the whole point?"

7. Has anyone ever called you lazy?
I think the only person who have ever called me lazy is my mom. I can't blame her though because the moment I enter my home, I become one lazy pig. I don't want to go out, I don't want to go and visit relatives, I just revel in the coziness of my home. This is exact opposite of how I am when I am outside my home and staying on my own. I can't wait to get out of my room then :)

8. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep?
I don't. Except for a rare one or two occasions, I never had any problem falling asleep in my life. But, I am a light sleeper, a small sound or a slight movement is enough to wake me up.

9. Has anyone told you a secret this week?
This week, none I remember.

10. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
The height. Thats a very huge impressionable factor for me.

11. What are you looking forward to?
A journey to my hometown.

12. Do you own any band t-shirts?
I don't own any band t-shirts. Does branded ones count? :)

13. What will you be doing in one hour?
Having my dinner, home-cooked by me.

14. Is anyone in love with you?
Yes ;) :D

15. Last time you cried?
Two days back, for something absolutely random.

16. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop?
A laptop. The only desktop computer I use these days is the one in my home town, whenever I go to visit my parents.

17. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
No. I am not a tattoos person at all. Would love one more piercing though. But nah, on second thoughts, I won't do that also.

18. Would you ever date anyone covered in tattoos?
I don't think so. Covered in tattoos? I find it a bit repelling.

19. What were you doing before this?
Had toast with peanut butter(my all time favourite) and apples.

20. When is the last time you slept on the floor?
One week back, I do that when it gets very hot in here.

21. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
I need atleast six-seven hours of sleep to function normally. But anything more than that makes me lethargic.

22. Do you eat breakfast daily?
I eat my breakfast daily. I make sure that I never skip it. I consider it very important for the proper functioning of my brain and body.

If you find this meme interesting enough, take it up and give your answers, either in the comments sections or in your blog.

Have a great weekend and enjoy all the sporting action !!!

A canvas

2010-07-02T02:32:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 2

She always had a way with the colours. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, magenta, every other colour in the world had been her good friends. Give her a plain canvas, she mixes her favourite colours and gives strokes as if she is writing a poem. A dash of this, a dash of that, and out comes a lovely picture, be it scenery, a portrait or something abstract. She started every picture as if her colours are telling her something and the picture at the culmination of the whole process reflected that.

One fine morning, she drew a cottage on the bank of a river, with a picturesque backdrop. But, what was prominent in the picture was a vase, which could be seen through the windows of the house. Once, she had finished the picture, she couldn’t keep her eyes off that vase, it was so beautiful. That evening, her childhood friend came to see her. They were meeting after years and spend hours talking to each other. Once the dinner was over, after putting the dishes into the dish-washer, she carefully unwrapped the present which her friend gifted her. It turned out to be a vase, shining in the tranquility of dawn.

She dismissed it as one off an incident. But she couldn’t stop laughing the day her husband came back from office, irritated, with his clothes smeared in mud water. That very afternoon, she had painted a picture of children splashing mud water and playing in the rain. The predominant colour of the picture was brown. Another day, she drew a golf course; she had always been fascinated by the lush green surroundings of golf courses. Her daughter came back home from school that evening disappointed. Her friend had got a new pencil box and it was from her uncle who came back from London. Her daughter always thought her pencil box which her dad got from NewYork was the best and couldn’t believe that someone can have a better one. As they say, she was green with envy.

Sometimes, she tried to use these coincidences to her advantage. She drew a bunch of yellow roses, when she toyed with the idea of her husband getting some flowers, while coming back from office. She drew her childhood home and surroundings when she wanted to go back to her parents place. She drew a nice cozy candle-lit dinner and expected her husband to take her to one that evening. At times, it worked, at times, it didn’t. However, she was happy with the rare coincidences that her intuition and canvas provided.

However, today was different. Her mind was disturbed from the moment she took her paintbrush. She poured colours into the canvas like a maniac. Her paint brush was moving swiftly; her strokes bold. She noticed that today she is using red as the prominent colour. And the end result was abstract, she herself couldn’t make any sense out of it. It was a flow of red colour, in a more darker background, with shades of black. The picture had an eerie feeling to it. She threw the paintbrush away, as if disappointed with herself and fell into the couch. She was woken up by the blaring sound of an ambulance. Before opening the door, she looked back at her colours for one last time. They were smiling at their own cruel joke.

God is dead. Really??

2010-07-01T02:21:00.000-07:00

Blog Marathon Post 1

Ours is a country which takes pride in its religious diversity where Hindus, Muslims, Christains, Parsis and people belonging to many other religions, live in perfect harmony, well, most of the times. No matter which religion you follow, we are all faced with experiences in life, which re-affirms our faith in God or questions its very own existence. For many of us, God is a comforting force more than anything else. When things don’t go our way, we take comfort in the fact that it’s God’s wish and we move on with our life. When we want things to happen in a certain way, we pray to God and strive ahead with the belief that he is watching over us.

What if, one morning, you wake up and realize that the force, which you thought is writing your destiny, making you go through all these experiences in life, the one whom you remember in your happiness and sadness, no longer exist. Would you lose the meaning in life? Would you feel that no matter how you behave, how you conduct yourselves, there is no one to watch your actions and hence you are free to do whatever you want to do? Would vandalism be the new way of the world? Would human beings be lost in the vast expanse of Universe? This is the premise which is explored in the book ‘God is Dead’, authored by Ron Currie, JR.

The story begins with God taking the form of a Sudanese woman searching for her brother in North Darfur region where rape, mass murder and several other crimes are rampant. By the end of first chapter, God is dead, trying to escape an attack by the corrupt Sudanese government. What happens in the subsequent chapters is the aftermath of the death of the all-guiding force - High School buddies forge a suicide pact; dogs speak Aramaic and walk on water; and parents, for the “lack of anything to do on Sundays”, worship their own children and eventually the entire planet becomes embroiled in a war between Evolutionary Psychologists who believe in genetic predetermination struggle against Postmodern Anthropologists who subscribe to choice and free will.

In this well-written dark comedy, the chapter that I found particularly amusing was the first-person narrative of a regional psychiatrist for CAPA – the Child Adulation Prevention Agency. He is the most vital and hated man in his county, vital because he is trying to save the world from the child-worshipping anarchy and hated because he forces people to see their children for what they are: flawed, mortal and essentially useless creatures. He works hard, and real hard, to make the parents realize that their children are no GOD, they are mere mortals. During one of his appointments, he reasons with one mother that her son “never scored higher than a 98. Like most of us, Levon will have to rely on the gifted few to drive human intellectual progress in his lifetime. He will be a passenger, not a participant.” How this story ends is sure to make you feel blessed, with all the love surrounding you.

The one thing which strikes out in the book is the fact that even during the non-existence of God, the actions undertaken by human beings has spiritual undertones. Friends who sign on a suicide pact feels they are doing something ‘sacred’ and the psychiatrist in the story himself ‘worships’ children. Maybe as mortals, we are trying to seek faith in whatever we do, no matter how non-existent it is.

I recommend this book to anyone who want a change of genre and a fresh style of writing. There are parts in the book which may appear scandalous to theists, but overall the book makes for a good read.

P.S: This debut novel of Ron Currie won the New York Public Library's 2008 Young Lions Fiction Award.

Its NaBloPoMo time

2010-06-30T07:23:00.000-07:00

Finally, I am back to the City of Nizams after my six month stint at United States, and boy, the moment I landed over here, the summer heat struck me like a thunder bolt. Right after that, I went on a short vacation to my hometown, wishing it would be raining cats and dogs in God's own country. But much to my dismay, the rain gods decided to visit my place, a week before and a week after my visit, carefully avoiding the week when I was home :(((( However, I gorged on enough mangoes(the next best thing about this season) and I am continuing to do so.

Back in office, it has been crazy work schedule, putting in 14 hours everyday, with enough deadlines to meet. However, I had been toying with a secret desire for sometime now. Many a time before I had thought about it and chickened out, considering my work schedule and other commitments. For the last few months, I had been thinking, I need to do this and by the end of every month, I back off, thinking its going to be yet another hectic month both professionally and personally. But now, with more conviction than ever, I am determined to do this.

I am doing a blog marathon !!!

There, I said it!!! The irregular blogger I am, I think it is one way to bring some discipline to my writing. But there are several other reasons why I want to do this.

- I love words, I love books, I love reading
- I genuinely love writing
- I want to explore my creative side more
- Many a time, I so much want to write about a topic, but before I could get myself to do it, it looses its charm. Lack of time, again a reason.
- I love it so much when someone likes one of my posts and tells me why they liked it
- I take so much pride when someone tells me that they love my blog
- I find reading good blogs a real fun thing to do
- When I love writing so much, why shouldn’t I pursue it
- I am not ready to allow my work schedule get in between something I love so much.
- And finally, this is something I am doing for myself, to prove to myself that I have the determination to do a NaBloPoMo

So friends, from tomorrow, the 1st of July, I will be posting everyday, for one whole month. I am well aware of the fact that its a huge responsibility and a commitment that I am undetaking, but I need to do it. I need all your support and feedback on my posts. Flowers, brickbats, chocolates, comments, all are welcome. Tomorrow, the journey starts ...

My sweet lulu ...

2010-03-05T14:00:00.001-08:00

I was two years and 9 months, when I first saw her. I looked at her, wide eyed through the glass windows of the neo-natal care in a hospital in God's own country. She had chosen to arrive a few minutes later, was born a 'blue' baby and had to be given special care the initial few days in the hospital. I don't remember what exactly was I feeling the moment I first saw her. But I truely was amazed by that bundle of joy, who was biting into other babies' fingers because she was too hungry and her hunger couldn't be satisfied by whatever food was available in the neo-natal care.

She must have been the first baby I ever held in my hand. But it was always so difficult for me to carry her around because she was quite a handful, a cute chubby baby. She loved baloons, had always been a water baby and cried at the smallest hint of rebuke or embarassment. I have got many a beating from my mom because she always thought I was the one at fault :|

As years passed by we became best friends, accomplices and each others pillars of strength. The fact that our parents were in busy professions brought us much closer to each other. We shared everything from clothes, bags and shoes to thoughts, beliefs and dreams. We have had such vocal fights that someone hearing it would have thought that the problem is more complex than the India-Pakistan issue. But it would take only a few minutes before we both can't stop laughing about it :D

She is one of the people who would have irritated me so much in my life, at the same time, the sweetest person in this world for me.

She is the one whom I wanted to protect from very bad thing of life.

She is the one whom I have tried to manaufy after every fight of ours during our childhood, when she refused to even talk to me.

She is the one whom I allow to boss around me, though she wants me to convince mom and dad for things to happen in her own way.

She has tried to take care of me, no matter how young she was and how far she was away from me.

We have stood for each other through thick and thin, providing each other a shoulder to cry on and whatever support one could offer.

She has told me the story of all the Harry Potter books, something which she is so passionate about, late into the night, while I was struggling to stay awake and sound
interested.

Many years ago, we were these two little girls, oblivious to the vagaries of life and the ways of world. Years have passed by and we both are at different stages in life and at opposite ends of the globe. Still my sister, I wish I could go a few years back so that I can grow up with you again, grow from being sisters to best friends, to play all those pranks on people, to eat all those goodies which mom had hiden somewhere up in the cupboard and to spend many a sleepless night gossiping away to glory.

Today my sweet little sister is celebrating her 23rd birthday. Happy Birthday lulu, may you have the best of everything life has to offer. I am always in awe and so proud of the strong, beautiful girl you have transformed into.

Type 1 diabetics

2010-01-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

Today while I was having lunch with my friends, we were joined by an American man, a very senior person in my client location. He is a very jovial person, health conscious, works out everyday and always have a smile on his face. We started talking and the topics ranged between his work-out schedule, lunch menu, the bike-trip that he has signed up for, his life in California, etcetcera. He told us about his wife and kid and mentioned that his son suffers from Juvenile diabetics - Type 1.

Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a disorder of the body's immune system. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys certain cells in the pancreas, an organ about the size of a hand that is located behind the lower part of the stomach. These cells -- called beta cells -- are contained, along with other types of cells, within small islands of endocrine cells called the pancreatic islets. Beta cells normally produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body move the glucose contained in food into cells throughout the body, which use it for energy. But when the beta cells are destroyed, no insulin can be produced, and the glucose stays in the blood instead, where it can cause serious damage to all the organ systems of the body.

He was telling us how his son's body have to connected to an "Insulin Pump" always and how they constantly have to monitor the insulin levels. His wife gets up every three hours in the night to check whether everything is fine. He was telling us how exhausting it is to prick your finger, test blood and then inject the required amount of insulin (I think this is the common way of treatment in India) everyday and how much easier it is to use an "Insulin Pump". With device, he can enter the amount of carbs he is taking for each meal into the device and it will give you the amount of Insulin to be injected. I googled for info on the device and was astonished to discover how expensive it is. But it was disheartening to know that he has to be attached to the device 24x7, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the rest of his life.

The warning signs of type 1 diabetes include extreme thirst; frequent urination; drowsiness or lethargy; sugar in urine; sudden vision changes; increased appetite; sudden weight loss; fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath; heavy, labored breathing; stupor; and unconsciousness.

Type 1 diabetes is generally diagnosed in children, teenagers, or young adults. Scientists do not yet know exactly what causes type 1 diabetes, but they believe that autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors are involved.

He told us that his son was detected of diabetics when he was a few years old because of frequent urination and extreme thirst. Since Type 1 diabetics can occur to even babies as small as a few months, I wonder how difficult it will be to diagnose them cause parents may overlook those symptoms as natural processes of growing up and the child may not always be able to artculate what he/she is going through. Its quite scary.

I think awareness is the key. If your child or someone close to you is having any of the symptoms, please consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Here is to more medical inventions and more ways to eradicate pain from our lives. This post is dedicated to all medical practitioners across the globe.

Info Courtesy: Juvenile Diabetics Research Foundation International

May he rest in peace ...

2010-01-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

Erich Segal passed away. The Ivy League Professor was 72 and died of heart attack. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease, a neurological condition that affects movement for 25 years.

I vividly remember reading his book 'Love Story'. While going through the last few pages of the books, I was reading two-three lines, crying for two-three minutes, then again reading the next two-three lines, crying for another two-three minutes and this pattern went on till I finished the book. I was surprised at myself, wondering how emotional I can become while reading a book. I think Erich Segal had that magic in his words. His Characters are people whom we can identify with and the way he weaves his plot makes us feel their emotions, predicament and trails in life. 'The Class' was also one of the books that I enjoyed thoroughly. Lives of four Harvard graduates were told in an inimitable way. I haven't read any of his other books, I have heard Doctors is also one of his good works.

May we have many more authors of his stature.May Erich Segal rest in peace. We owe you for your wonderful contribution to the English Literature.

If someone would like to recommend any other book of Erich Segal, please let me know through your comments.

News Info from ibnlive.com

Three Idiots

2010-01-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

Me and three of my friends watched '3 idiots' last week. I know there are many reviews floating around the web, raving about how good a movie it is, with more and more people watching it and making it a huge hit. Hence I thought I will also pen down my two cents about the movie.

First of all, the movie tries to deliver a very relevant message. Kudos to the story writer for bringing up a topic which is very relevant in today's times. Being an engineer and MBA myself, I can very well identify with the predicament, because I myself have tried to make sense of all these degrees that I have earned over a period of time.

The movie tries to bring into light the fallacy of 'rote' way of learning which Indian educational system patronizes. Here, the person who memorizes the formulae, theories and even different definitions from the textbook, are given good grades above the person who tries to understand the concepts and applies it. Here is the first point were the movie fells short. Even I had friends in my engineering college who were very thorough with the concepts but didnt adhere to the rote method of learning. Though they were very knowledgeable, they never used to score good marks because of the way students are graded in our educational system. If you can't exactly replicate what is given in the textbooks, you are not given the marks. They did succeed in many of the competitive exams for higher studies and many good colleges around the world recognised their potential is a different story all together. The movie potrays Rancho as someone who understands the concepts and applies it, at the same time, scores more marks than Chathur who crams all day. Afterall, a Bollywood hero has his invincible image to live upto, because I found this something which cannot happen in the real life.

Though the movie progresses very well in the first hour, the second half becomes tad boring with the innumerable bollywood cliched scenes somehow pressed into the movie. Delivering a baby with a vaccuum cleaner, really, whom are we kidding here? The whole drama in the hospital, are they telling us that we wouldn't have known the depth of these friendship or even the good-heartedness of Rancho without these scenes? The film makers themselves kill the novelty of the movie and the wonderful plot they build in the first half with these cliched scenes.

All said and done, the movie truly belongs to Aamir Khan, maestro who surprises us each and every time with his choice of scripts and characters, and the two other idiots, Madhavan and Sharman Joshi who did a commenable job with their characters. Though all of them potray characters which are much younger to their self, their timing of the comedy is just perfect. Had the last half an hour been removed from the movie, I believe 'Three Idiots' could have become a cult classic like 'Dil Chahta Hai', but otherwise it is a bit disappointing from the director who have given us 'Munnabhai MBBS' and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'. All izz not well with me Mr. Hirani.

Post script: About Chetan Bhagat claiming that he is not due credits for the story, I would like him to go back and read his book again, watch the movie once and then continue commenting on the issue. Except for the three friends, IIT setting and love angle with professor's daughter, I don't think there is any similarity between the movie and the book. I heard Five Point Someone sales have gone up after the movie released. So a little publicity never hurts.

Missed you dewdrops ...

2010-01-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

Long time, sigh, it had been a really really long time ...

All this while, I got out of my college, got an MBA degree, managed to get a job in this recession time, went to the city of Nizams in pursuit of my job, absolutely fell in love with the city, but within five months was transported to U S of A, and currently working in NewJersey.

Many a times, I so wanted to come back to this place and rant out, but by the time I could find time to put my thoughts into words, the novelty of the thoughts worn out and I become uniterested in them. I don't want to promise once again that I will blog more often and break it later, but I will try to devote more time to my blog from now on. Fingers crossed ;)

Five people you will meet in your train journeys

2008-08-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Characters mentioned in this post are purely imaginary. If you can identify with any of them, chances are high that we took a train together sometime to some common destination.

Train Journeys form an indispensable part of my life. They have always been my comfortable and favourite mode of transport. As a child, looking out of the window and watching those lush green fields passing by, was my favourite pass time during my train journeys. Cows grazing in the fields, children playing cricket, bridges over those beautiful rivers were some of the common sights during my journeys. There were a lot more of such beautiful sights on my way to my ancestral home. Periodic visits by chai-wallahs, pantry boys, magazine sellers used to pipe up my mood more.

Even now, with the cool breeze touching my face and tousling my hair, I can hear train singing a lullaby for me. Now most of my train journeys being overnight ones, i don't get to enjoy the sights anymore. But something that hasn't changed till now, is the different types of people I travel with. Let me try and broadly divide them into the some categories:

Loners: 'Live and let others live' types. The easiest of all types to put up with. They would either be listening to music or reading something or dreaming(???). Whatever they are doing, they won’t bother to interfere with what others are doing. They are content in their own world.

Mother India types: They have taken it upon themselves to take care of everybody. They will start off with questions like where u are going? what u are going to do there? where u are working? etc... They would normally be traveling with their sons or husbands or nephews. If they are traveling with their daughters or grand children, they chose to ignore u. Come on, how can they have time to spare for u when they are busy feeding their grand children, talking to them and putting them to sleep. The main advantage of travelling with them is the occasional food packets that they take out and insist that you eat atleast some of it. But I somehow like travelling with them. I feel a sense of security when a motherly figure is around.

Aunty Number One: Mostly in their middle ages, they love to extract each and every minute details of your personal life. Though they will start off with asking about your work and education, it won’t take much time for them to drift the focus to your family. They would be eager to know what your dad do for a living and where your home town is. During one of my journeys, I met this corpulent, nosey lady who started off a conversion with me, in a very friendly manner. She kept on extracting the minutest details from me, starting with the place i stay now to the nursery school I attended(!!). Considering the tangential direction in which the conversation was heading, I started smelling something really fishy. Disappointment was quite visible in her face, when I politely(Gosh, I extracted the last drop of patience in my body to sound so) told her that I don’t belong to the religion which she thought I would be a part of. She shifted gears and continued the conversation with increased vigour. Then, the conversation went something like this.

Auntiji: So do u know that girl named X, who stays there. (She infact gave me her full house address with her dad's name)

Me(thinking when will this conversation finally end): Ya, I know her, infact she studied with me in school(World is after all so small. The girl in picture happens to be one of my best friends from my school days).

Auntiji: U know what? One of my relatives told me about this girl, I wanted to see her for my son. (This was followed by a string of questions about how she looks, where is she now, etcetera)

Me(cursing myself for starting a conversation with her): Hmmm, yeah, she is good Aunty. (I didn’t want to explain the facts that she is seeing someone and she is not interested in marriage and stuff).

I finally managed to act as if i haven't slept for days and if i dont sleep now,i am drop dead. I withdrew to my upper berth with the auntiji wondering whether she should ask the girl sitting in front of her, about another girl whom another relative talked about for her another son :)

Next type of people is the most interesting...
I want friendship types: Travelling alone and mostly in their 20s or early 30s, these men believe that train journeys are the perfect place to make friendships. And me, a girl travelling alone beg to differ. Typically, I carry a book with me and attempt to read it, no matter how noisy the atmosphere is. Moreover, whenever anyone belonging to this group asks me a question, I tell all my details wrong, right from my name to the organisation i work for :). But, sometimes, you dig your own death trap. This happened when i was travelling one day, back to Bangalore, from my hometown. I was sitting in the side upper berth, reading a book. This guy was in the upper berth, perpendicular to mine, sitting on the edge. He tries to start up a conversation. For the sake of simplicity, lets call him Mr.X.

Mr.X: So are you working in Bangalore?

Me(starled by the fact that someone is actually interrupting me while i am reading): Hmmm... yeah.

Mr.X: Which company are u working for?

I mumble out the name of a famous multinational though i work for another company :)

Mr.X: Oh!! So which vertical u belong to?

Now I am really surprised. I have learnt about vertical, horizontal and diagonals in my mathematics classes, nowhere else. The organisation I work for, don't use this terminology either. So I gave him a look as if how come he knows about the organisational ladders existing in my company.

Mr.X: (As if to clear my confusion) By the way, I work for the same company.
This is followed by a grin that says “Don’t you know? We are long lost friends” :|

Now it was my time to be surprised. I didn’t know that one innocuous lie that I told would backfire at me with the same pace. A sheepish grin and a nod, that’s all I could manage before I turned my head back to my book. The guy was left wondering the entire journey how snobbish I am, not even bothering to answer a simple question. As if I care !!!

Papa, Mama is here to take care of you munnu types: Lets end this with the most difficult types to put up with. People traveling with babies. They carry with them feeding bottles, four course meals, innumerable dresses for their baby, small commode and what not. I really don’t know whether they are shifting their base to some other city or traveling in a train. Though many of you may disagree with me, I find them the most difficult ones to put up with. As it is you are crunched for space and you will have to move a thousand times over to make space for them. Not to mention the baby crying whole night, not allowing you a wink of sleep. I may sound presumptuous here, but hey, even I want to have a peaceful journey.

Whether its the sheer experiences it gives, the type of people you meet or the comfort, train journeys remain the most favourite means of transportation for me.

So whom did you meet in your recent train journey?

A broken leg and boredom to boot

2008-08-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

So there I was revelling in the financial capital of India, pondering over excel sheets, struggling with the traffic woes, having fun with my friends(the fellow interns spread across different companies in Mumbai), enjoying my hectic schedule, and baaaaammmmmmmmmm, there comes the inevitable.

One crazy dog, one run down the stairs, one twist of ankle and a fall, this is all it takes for me to be transported back to God's own country with strict instruction from three doctors in the family and other othropedics that complete immobilisation of leg is required for the next 3 weeks. After all, ligment tear is not something to be proud of and definitely not something to walk away with. :)

So here I am with a broken leg and boredom to boot, trying to pass the time doing something constructive. Any tips to pass time while immobile, fellow bloggers?

U.S. beckons

2008-05-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

13 days, 7 flights, Delhi-London-Chicago-Omaha-NewYork-Washington-London-Mumbai, and experience of a lifetime.

I happened to be one of those lucky few who got the opportunity to be a part of the student exchange program between my B school and University of nebraska, Omaha, United states. Enduring a 28 hour flight from Delhi to Omaha in itself was a huge thing for me. But it was not as bad as i thought it would be. The hospitality of the organisers and students of University of Nebraska amazed to me to a large extent. There were eagerly waiting to receive us in the Omaha airport and take us to the hotel. Everything from accomodation to food to small things like 'no ice in water' were taken care of.

The highlight of the trip was attending the Annual ShareHolder's Meeting of Berkshire Hathway and meeting Warren Buffet. Spending one whole afternoon, amidst 30,000 shareholders of Berkshire Hathway from all over the world and listening to Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger(vice chairman:Berkshire Hathway) answering the questions shooted by investors with innate wit was a feast in itself. We also attended the workshop series organised by University of Nebraska, which included topics like
-Western Perspective on Indian Thought by Prof.Micheal marie Desmaris, author of Changing minds(A wonderful Canadian Lady, who knew about Indian Culture, Philosophy and sanskrit, more than us).
-Virtual Marketing by Jeremy vlcan who is the director of online marketing at Netshops Inc. an online retailer which
owns and operates over 200 online specialty stores
-Creating Wealth through long term investments by the president and vice-president of Mandarin Investment Counsel.

The trip also included company visits of Gallup Organisation, Mandarin Investment Counsel, infoUSA and Union Pacific. The way we were greeted in these organisations, how they took time to explain to us the working of their organisation and the eagerness they showed to interact with us is indeed commentable. While our days were packed with workshops, seminars and company visits, the evening were fun with cosmic bowling in Thunder Alley, picnic in the picturesque landscapes of Omaha where we even taught our American friends how to play cricket, visit to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, visit to malls and a baseball game(I simply loved it) between Omaha Royals and some other team within Nebraska(Omaha Royals lost though, after giving a tough fight to the other team.) The organiser couldn't arrange the win for us. :)

After 8 days in Omaha, the place which i felt foreign in the initial days started feeling home. We were going to miss the warm hearted people we met, who took extra effort to make us feel at home, who showed keen interest to know about India and the culture and some who knew much more about India than us. We were sure to miss the people we interacted with and all the fun and rich experiences that we had. The last dinner brought everyone who worked for the trip together, the organisers, students, teachers and all the non teaching staff of University of Nebraska. The students of University of Nebraska picked up titles for all of us, and i was titled 'Female Warren Buffet' :). Some other interesting titles were 'Cricket Pro', given to a friend of mine, who sacrificed his wicket for an American player, 'Best lugguage Handler', to a senior whose lugguage came late in another flight, 'Unlimited Free Minutes', to a friend who was always on phone, etcetcera.

After spending so many amazing days in that picturesque, calm and serene place, it was time to move to NewYork. NewYork is a city full of life. In stark contrast to Omaha, its a city so vibrant with lights, colours and action. We visited NASDAQ, saw the closing bell ceremony being televised(wherein a famous personality ring the closing bell, when the trade closes at 4P.M.). The Times Square, Manhattan, Top of the Rocks(for the entire view of NewYork), everything was equally fascinating. The best part was the Broadway Muscial show 'Legally Blonde' which we managed to catch up on the last day. Truly an amazing experience, considering the effort and time they would have put in to produce such an awesome musical. NewYork is a city i fell in love with at the first sight, be it for its vibrancy, or their excellent subway transport. :)

NewYork trip culminated with a lunch at Ajit Jain's residence. Ajit Jain currently heads several reinsurance business for Berkshire Hathaway and has been touted as a possible successor to Warren Buffett, an alumnus of our Institute. Visiting his residence and family, having lunch with him, hearing him talk about his plans for Berkshire Hathway was an enriching experience. We were amazed beyond words when his wife came and told him 'Warren is on the phone'. Its not everyday that one get to hear this in one's life. :) A sumptous mediterenean lunch by the river side in the backyard of his house and a book containing collected writings from Charlie Munger, personally autographed by him, was the gift from Ajit Jain to each and everyone of us. His wife made a perfect hostess greeting us individually and taking time out to talk to each one of us. A man of that stature accompanying u to the bus and wavying you goodbye felt so surreal. The humility and knowledge exhibited by him, made me realise that these are the two essential factors to suceed in life.

Like all the good things, even this trip had to come to an end. All throughout the trip, one question that was consistently asked to me by Indians and Non-Indians alike was given a chance would you like to work in India or Us and I always had the same answer, India. The reason being, I dont think there is any dearth of opportunities in India at the present moment, and I have my family and majority of friends here. And I must say, they all told me that if they would have asked the same question ten years back, the answer would have been exactly opposite and they would not have left India if they had the same opportunities ten years back. So I feel I am so lucky to be a part of India's unprecedented growth process.

Summer Internships beckons and I took a flight from NewYork and landed directly in Mumbai, the abode for the next 6 months, were i will be working with a reputed investment research firm. Traffic jams, pollution, rush in local trains and high cost of living, Mumbai is characteristed by all of these, and I am liking every bit of it. Afterall not everyone gets to be a part of India Inc. growth story !!!

Happy Birthday to me, huh?

2008-04-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

Six girls plan religiously for a dear friend's birthday.

Cake, candles, decorations, gifts, cards, everything is taken care of. Yours truly, with other friends, work really hard in background to get all this done, without her knowledge.

You send out a mail to the whole batch saying be there sharp at 12o'clock to celebrate her birthday.

So the whole batch assembles at midnight to celebrate her birthday.

She cuts the cake, we sing "Happy Birthday to you", wish her, put cake, water, eggs, n everything that we could see in the vicinity, on her :)

Suddenly the girls take out another cake and lights candles. Me, inspite of being in the core organising committee is totally unaware of this. I innocently asks the question "Why another cake"??

Thats when i get the biggest surprise of my life. They got the other cake for celebrating my birthday. Tomorrow is the last day of our exams and we are all going to be away for six months, for our summer internships. Seven of us are going to be in four different cities. So they planned to celebrate my birthday one month before so that they all can be with me during my celebration. My constant rant that 'no one of you are going to be with me on my birthday' prompted them further to do this.

I cut the cake and the usual rituals associated with the birthday happens to me also. Get bums, get drenched in water and cake, girls decorate my room, gives me a beautiful birthday card, books and perfumes as gifts. So I had a birthday celebration one month in advance of my real birthday. I dont know what makes me more happy - the way they cared for me and surprised me or the way they planned everything without my notice.

I am gonna miss this place for the next 6 months. No matter how far i am from my home, the people surrounding me, always makes me feel special.

Mn,Pj,Sh,So,Nl & Nv, you girls rock. I will miss you people a lot.

She used to dream ...

2008-04-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Years ago, when she was a little girl
She used to dream.
She used to dream of beautiful places,
knight in shining armours and laughter.

As years passed by,
She continued dreaming.
But without her knowledge,
her dreams were taking new shapes.

Sometimes it took the shape of
a position, a promotion, recognition
or something very materialistic.
So fast the winds were whirling.

She went through several
heartaches and disappointments,
She survived all of them. But,
came out disillusioned.

World around her continued to
remind her that rosy pictures do exist,
but only in bollywood movies
and fairytales.

She stopped dreaming about
palaces, princes and rose gardens.
She has come to know that fairytales
were only the sadistic imagination of a cynic.

Now she just waits for the reality
to strike her, the sooner, the better.
The harder the strike,
the stronger she will be.

A virtual journey down the memory lane

2008-04-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

I chanced upon my engineering college's image in Wikimapia, while googling for something else. I used to be a day scholar during my engineering college days. I used to travel by bus everyday from my home to my college, either in the college bus or transport buses. It used to the same route, familiar buses and drivers. Because many of the buses leave only at a particular time, it was quite an ordeal to get ready on time and catch the bus. During morning hours, there used to be so many people in the bus that you can barely put a feet down. My fellow passengers used tricks(read blows and punches) that would put many a WWF Champions into shame, to get a seat to sit. People would be exhausted by the time they reach their destinations. Nevertheless, i used to enjoy those journeys.

Reminisence does not always make you happy. The thought of being away from home for so many months and the hard fact that i won't be home for some more months made me sad. So i decided to take a journey down the memory lane, and tranversed the entire route from college to home, as i used to do in a bus. But this time, with the help of simple 'Pan up', 'Pan down', 'Pan right' and 'Pan left' buttons of Wikimapia. I saw the same buildings i used to see, bridges i used to cross, traffic junctions were we waited for the traffic lights to turn green and many of my friends' houses on the way. The only difference being, today i saw all of that by a simple movement of my mouse, sitting so many miles away from all of them. And finally, after so many turns and clicks, i reached home :)

My home is the small rectangle, right at the centre. No points for guessing though!!!

I thank Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev for their wonderful invention. You people made my day. I was so happy to be finally home, 'virtually'. They say, technology can bridge gaps and transcend boundaries. Today Wikimapia did it for me, atleast to a great extend.

Disclaimer: After reading this, if you feel that this girl is crazy, dont worry, you are not the only one feeling that way. Even i feel the same today :D

One of those memorable conversations :)

2008-03-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

So what happens when two finance enthusiasts chat?

Before we move on to that, let me give a background of the story, we girls went for buying some things from our so called 'tech market', and while returning, we meet a bunch of guys from our batch. For one and a half hours, the two groups sit in front of an eating joint named 'veggies', demanding a treat from each other. In the end, girls back to their hostel, without eating anything.

So one of my good friends here, Md (also a Finance enthusiast) pings me in the night and so goes our conversation.

(Presented as it is, in the chat lingo)

Md: see...today we returned from the veggies w/o having anything.. :(

me: guys r supposed to treat girls not otherway round

Md: yeah agreed...but when guys dont have money then? :)

come on...atleast someday gals should lend them some money...so that they can treat the gals and then return the money...

me: return the money??? should we expect that :)

Md: wat !!!

why such bad credit rating? :)

me: credit rating of C for Md and S :)
(S is a common friend, who is always with Md)

Md: i have strong cash flows, good amount assets of piled up, lot of goodwill and AAA rating by other gals..!!! :D

i m not sure why ur company is not lending the money ..!!!

me: we don’t believe in other banks’ credit rating, i think all will agree to S&P(my) rating :)

Md: no ..actually their experience speaks in their credentials given to this investment bank..!!! u havent dealt with us...there are windfall profits mam..!!!!

me: we feel tht the company you have recently merged(S) have bad rating also, goodwill of tht company has degraded, esp after it has liquidated(with drinks) some of its assests and made some funny declarations :P

Md: no no..thats rumour in the market...we are not merged with that "Sachs" banks...there might be some transactions of securities but those are general and simple debt obligation payments..we are a stand alone white paper company..:)

me: ok, then we can reconsider your offer, let my principals do some more research and look at the market conditions, if the market feels tht investing in your company is a good option and returns r high and assured, then our bank will be able to lend u some money, and mind you, our credit rating goes a along way in giving confidence to other investors :)

Md: You are welcome...!!!! my books are open for due diligence..but you will have to do Systematic Lending. In which you will lend one ice cream every week till May 2009 and then my bank will start paying your bank in chocolate currency...:)

me: first of all we dont believe in systematic lending and we believe in a floating rate interest with put option, so lets see how we can work this out

Md: see Ice creams to Chocolates...the NPV is really delicious..:)
the risk is really worth taking..:)

me: with the exchange rates for chocolates fluctuating, we dont really believe in a transaction through tht currency, i think we can fix it in icecream currency

Md: ok no issues..!!! but i m telling you...chocolate rates are bound to go up only...as we will buy lot of chocolates in this KGP street, ppl will run to buy them as well..we can infact do a futures contract where you will get future chocolates at current rates..:)

me: i think the same applies to icecreams as well, so i don’t mind having a futures contract in that

Md: hmm...dont u think an icecream with a friendly gesture would have been much better rather than going into these tantrums..:)

me: we r investment bankers, we dont do simple things, we assess,hype up and then do the deal. U know we live life kingsize (courtesy “D”) :D

Md: yeah...that means that you can offer Kingsize icecreams to your fellow bankers also.. ;)

me: only if it comes back in the form of a double kingsize family pack icecreams :)

Md: cool...idea is actually not bad...!!! anyway it will mean that this banker will get more ice cream than normal times... ;)

me: sure, i think ROI is good in this deal :)

Md: you are welcome to announce the deal in the market...wat will be the deal declaration date and when will deal happen?

me: deal declaration date and deal happening will be informed to you in the due course of time, thanks for dealing with us, we hope to maintain a successful relationship with you in the coming years

Md: wow.. that was wondeful...i seriously never thought we can be this geeky..!!! :)

me: seriously :) it was fun :)

Md: out and out FinFinFin...God please let some recruiter see this chat..!!! :P :P

me: we will put this chat along with our resume and give it to placecomm(placement committee) :)

Md: he he..:) colleague recos :P :P

me: :) :) :)

Md: my head is so heavy with the stuff that i have to have one ice cream now :)

One of those memorable conversations which puts a smile on your face everytime you think about it. Dedicated to all the FIN enthusiasts around us :)

Chance Encounters

2008-02-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

Running a temperature above 100 is not the 'hottest' thing that can happen to you. That too if it persists for more than three long days, forcing you to be in bed all day and night, its quite a nightmare. Yet, a chance encounter on one of those webpages made my day. My whole body paining, groggy eyed, I sat up and read whole of the archive section.

How true :)

The best definition :)

Who wouldn't like to dress up for that special date?

To have someone as health conscious as you, wow!!!

Guys, Believe me, This is the most important thing.

**** I am all starry eyed ****

Love is... is a comic strip created by New Zealand artist, Kim Grove in the late 1960s, later to be produced by Stefano Casali. The strip is syndicated worldwide by Tribune Media.

Love Is... (the title includes the ellipsis mark), began as a series of little love notes that Kim Grove drew for her future husband, Roberto Casali. The strip was first syndicated in 1970 and one of her most famous drawings, "Love Is...being able to say you are sorry", published on February 9, 1972, was marketed internationally for many years in print, on cards and on souvenirs.

Kim Casali died in June 1997. Since then, her son Stefano Casali has maintained the strip although it is always shown as "by Kim Casali" and signed "Kim" instead of Stefano. He remained in his regular occupation in advertising until September 1999 when he devoted his full time to the strip, working with Bill Asprey who sketches the characters. Stefano also took control of "Minikim"(named after his mother), the company that holds the rights to Love Is....

Its kinda funny who simple things like comics restores my faith in love and puts back that smile on my face.

Info and comics courtesy:
wikipedia
http://www.comicspage.com/loveis/loveis.html

Heartbroken

2008-01-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Last two months of anticipation.

You wait for something to happen so badly, and later come to know that its not going to happen.

Today is one of those days :(

And the reason which they give, hmmm..... all the more absurd.

I am heartbroken.

I don't think any amount of chocolates will lift my mood now.

Kolkata Book Fair is called off. Today's newspaper came with this 'jadhka'. I would hardly believe it while perusing it.

Kolkata Book fair being Asia's largest and world's second largest book fair, I so much wanted to be a part of it and experience it. Me and pooj were anxiously looking forward to it. Our plans of bunking classes and going for it, buying lots of books, all went down the drain.

The stakeholders who are at a loss - Publishers who will face a revenue loss of Rs 15 - 20 crore, bibliophiles all around the country, and ofcourse me.

I am really not liking it.

New Year, Renewed Hopes

2007-12-31T22:00:00.000-08:00

The girl looked out through the window. She could see a sky filled with dark clouds. The weather was gloomy. She had never liked gloomy weather. She always felt that gloomy weather in turn translates to gloominess in her heart, adding on to the level of inactivity around. She could sense that level of inactivity around. She came and sat in her couch, feeling dejected. Minutes flew by. Slowly she could hear the sound of rain drops touching the ground. It didn’t take long for the rain to become a torrential downpour. She ran to the door. Pitter Patter the raindrops fell, all around her. She could sense her gloominess being washed away with the rain. She let the rain touch her, wash away her gloominess with every single drop. The rain lasted a few minutes. The clouds parted and out came the sun. She could feel the sunshine on her face. She welcomed it with both hands. She held her both hands high as if to take in every single bit of that sunshine.

May the sun shine as bright as it could for you, in the coming year.

Have a fun filled, rock n' roll new year. May this year brings lots of happiness for you.

Expressing myself

2007-12-25T06:34:00.000-08:00

Earlier Airtel ads used to focus on one superstar(from Shahrukh to Kareena to Sachin) endorsing the brand. Those ads never had a lasting image in the minds of Indian consumers, who considered it as another celebrity endorsing yet another brand. Then Airtel went on to create a signature tune with A.R.Rahman in 2002, which they continue to use till this date. I think, the ad which changed the whole look of Airtel in the minds of Indian consumers was their first ad with tagline "Express Yourself".

The ad showed an entire gamut of emotions and reactions, which one will experience in a lifetime. It showed

A bride looking at bridegroom through tears - Say Yes
A War Scene - Say No
Two persons sitting at two ends of the couch - Say Something
A person standing infront of a grave - Say Nothing
Three girls sitting at a coffee table - Conspire
A child saying something in an old man's ear - Confess

and so on....with the mesmering signature tune filling your ears towards the end.

This Ad went on to touch the Indian minds with its excellent visual imagery and creativity. And from then Bharti's market share has kept increasing to being the biggest mobile service provider in India. Its wonderful to see how an ad for a telecom service provider can achieve its purpose without talking anything about talktime or tariff rates in its ads. The Airtel's tagline EXPRESS YOURSELF was well potrayed in all of its subsequent ads.

However my favourite ad among all the Airtel ads is the latest one. The ad portrays, two boys separated by a border, a football and an urge to play together.

There is no wall, no barrier that can keep us apart, if only we talk to each other

There wont be any war, any terrorism, if only we could understand this.

Taare Zameen Par

2007-12-21T10:22:00.001-08:00

On a lazy afternoon, succumbing to my little sister's exhortations, I went to watch this movie. First of all, I went to watch Taare Zameen Par without any expectations. Because I watched it on the release day, I didn't have any reviews to base my expectations on. This helped me watch the movie with an open mind and I was amazed by what i saw in those 120 minutes.

Taare Zameen Par comes with the message "Every child is special" and lives up to it. It tells the story of dyslexic boy whose world is filled with colours, fishes, kites and everything that is remotely liked with grades amd homework. The movie unfolds to show how he, inspite of being labelled as a 'failure' by his father and teachers, turns out to be a confident and achieving person, with the right guidance from an arts teacher.

Darsheel Safary who plays the dyslexic child, gives a soul rendering performance. Aamir Khan is commendable in his role as an arts teacher, though his role is very small compared to Darsheel's. Music of the movie is heartwarming. I particularly liked the song "Maa"(lyrics by prasoon joshi and sung by shankar mahadevan), which made me choke up in between, because of its intense portrayal of the child's emotions.

Kudos to Aamir Khan for taking up a subject which is very relevant in today's world. With the world becoming more and more competitve each day, most often, parents push for high grades without realising what the child is actually going through. I believe this will be a wake up call for many such parents. The movie helps to bring more awareness about dyslexia which is still a disfunctionality not known to many people.

My five stars for Taare Zameen Par :). Don't miss it.

Untitled!!!

2007-12-12T00:53:00.000-08:00

Almost five months since i blogged.

And yeah, five months since joined my B school.

Life had been full of new experiences since then, a whirlpool of casestudies, assignments, quizzes, exams, lots of new friends and lots of fun.

My latest crush - FINANCE. I never thought i would love this subject this much. I had almost decided on my specialization before joining the B school. But it only took a few days with my finance books to change my decision. Our finance prof. further piqued our interest in the subject by saying "No Money, No Honey", in the very first class. I must say, a very innovative way of generating students' interest in the subject :)

Ofcouse i can't boast that the so called "busy schedule" in a B school was the reason for my absence in blogosphere. But yes, i plan to make up for it and be a regular blogger from now on.

Her eye's view

2007-07-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

After a hard day's work, she was sitting in a swing in the balcony of her flat, with a cup of coffee in her hand. Nowadays, this has become her favourite way of destressing herself. The swinging action gives her body a rhythm which brings back the memories of her childhood. It reminds her of the summer holidays which she used to spend in her grandma's house. The innumerable hours, she with her cousins, used to play in the swing, in the mangrove. Big battles were fought to decide who will swing first and how long. Those were the memories which refused to leave her, which brings back a smile to her face even after so many years.

Looking down from her balcony, she could see many glimpses of a busy metropolitan city life. There were buses and vehicles rushing past in the road below. People were frantically rushing towards their destinations. Everyone is busy with their own lives. Everyone is in a search for a better life, a better job, true love, more money and many other things which they feel will bring them happiness. This mad rush had been a part of the life for some time now. Four years back when she came to this city with a job, leaving the close comforts of her home, she had no idea that life in this city will change her attitude and views to such a great extend. It had transformed her into a different person, a person whom she herself finds it difficult to relate to, at times.

She shuddered at the flow of these unnecessary thoughts. She glanced around. Towards her left, inside the flat in the floor just below hers, she could see a woman in her kitchen. Her face is red with all the smoke and heat that is emanating from the vessel. She was preparing something in a hurried manner. Maybe her husband is about to reach home after a day's work and its already dinner time. It made her wonder whether she will be there in that woman's place any day. A marriage? She hasn't found a person to get married to and she is already thinking about cooking a meal for him. She laughed at her own folly. After all dreams, they are sky bound.

In the balcony of the flat two floors below, she could see two cute little girls playing with their dolls. They had got a papa doll, mama doll and two other dolls as children. They were enacting the whole play as in papa goes to work, mama cooks and cleans, children go to school, the whole happy family drama. It reminded of her own childhood games with her girlfriends and dolls. How much fun they had while acting as loving mamas, bringing up their dolls as their own children, cooking meals for them and dressing them up in beautiful frocks. She still has the first doll which she got as a present from her aunt, somewhere deep inside her cupboard. She doesn't feel like giving it away though it had been years since she stopped using it. Maybe we cling on to certain things because they give us a breather in those moments when we feel like giving it all up.

Suddenly she could hear the loud music and feel the thumping on the floor. A bunch of teenagers must be partying in the adjacent flat. Those carefree days, when all you worried about was what clothes to wear and which classes to bunk. Gossiping all the way through a plate of pani-puri, those hush hush conversations about secret crushes, the teachers you silently admired, the list of craziness never ended. She misses her friends, friends who have chosen their own paths and moved ahead in life. Friends whom she lost contact with many years ago. Sometimes she feels being ambitious makes life much more difficult to live. Somewhere down the line, in the process of being successful, you miss out on the small happy moments with your friends, family and loved ones. At the same time, she is happy about whatever she has achieved in her professional life. She let out a sigh thinking about the irony of the whole situation.

In the balcony of the flat on her right side, she could see an old woman in her armchair. She has seen this lady at the same place so many times. Someone had even told her that the old woman is a widow and her children are all settled aboard. She is living in the flat with a servant. She imagined what it feels like to be living all alone when you are old. Inspite of being young and having a hectic work schedule, she finds herself lonely at times. Boring weekends, lonely evenings have all become a part of her life. All of a sudden, she felt sorry for the old woman. She said a silent prayer for her.

Different lives, different phases. She may have donned a dozen roles in her life, but she has more to don and many more acts to play.

She continued swinging, sipping coffee.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2007-07-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

Another gem from the writer who have given us the internationally acclaimed book 'The Kite Runner'. Never ever had a book made me sit up and read the whole of it in one go. But this book did that to me. I was so engrossed in the story of Mariam and Laila that i could not keep the book down till i finished it.

Set in Afghanistan through the late nineties, the book tells the story of Mariam and Laila, both brought together by fate and locked up in a loveless marriage to a egoistic person. Both Mariam and Laila, the central protagonists of the story, had beautiful childhoods in their own small worlds. During the course of their lives, fate plays havoc and they are brought together in a very strange, uncomfortable way. From there starts their struggle for survival, supporting each other in every possible way they can.

During the initial pages of the book, author tries to draw parallels between the lives of Mariam and Laila. Mariam is denied her father's love during her childhood and Laila her mother's. Both of them realises their mothers' love for them only after going through similar situations in life. All these incidents in turn helps Mariam and Laila bond better, though they belong to two different generations.

Many a time, i was horrified by the gory details of the torture inflicted upon Mariam and Laila, by their husband and all those tears struck in my throat came running down as Laila read the last letter addressed to Mariam, by her father. A thousand splendid suns makes a good read, challenging us emotionally, questioning the whole purpose of womanhood, yet, showing us that in the end, everything will be fine.
The two lines of the poem which Saib-e-Tabrizi wrote about Kabul, way back in seventeenth century illustrates the same point:

"One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls."

Now thats news!!!

2007-06-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

Your Luck Quotient: 85%

You have an extremely high luck quotient.
Not only do you consider yourself lucky, probably everyone you know does too.
But you're smart enough to know that you've mostly made your own luck.
By being positive, open, and flexible, a lot of luck has come your way!

How Lucky Are You?

Now this is news for me because i never considered myself a person high on luck quotient. Things that i wanted, always eluded me by marginal levels. Hence, most of time, I achieved (what i consider)the second best and never the best. Maybe, that makes this Thomas Jeffreson quote my favourite:

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it

Another one which is close to my heart, by Harry Golden:

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.

But i don't know whether it is the sheer inexistence of 'luck' portrayed by these quotes or the fact that i still haven't utilised my full potential, which one of these makes me more happy.

Unemployed again

2007-06-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

I will miss you

We will miss you

All the best

Good, timely decision

Keep in touch

Don't forget us

These were the most common sentences that i was hearing for the last few days. Today is my last day in my office. I have finally decided to resign my job and go for my higher studies. I was planning for it for quite some time and everything is falling into place now.

First job always has an emotional attachment to it, the job which gives us the much needed financial independence, the job which takes us one more step closer to knowing ourselves. I have experienced a gamut of emotions during my last two years on job. There were moments ranging from sheer excitement to deep disappointment. Now that its time for me to leave, my heart feels heavy with emotions. During the last few hours in bangalore, i could sense tears welling up in eyes at many instances and i fought to hold them back.

During the last two years, I have learnt a lot, worked with many a wonderful people and made great friends. Friends who made me laugh, friends whom i argued with, friends who stood by me through my highs and lows. I will miss J,M and Ar for making me laugh with their innumerable jokes. I will miss C,S and B for the coffee cup conversations and gossips that we shared. I will miss Ab and Ro for the laughs and the infinite site issues that we solved. Above all, i will miss my hectic schedule, deadlines and call conferences.

Now i am off to my home town, on a self imposed sabbatical, for one month, before i become a student all over again. Goodbye to a city which gave me such good friends, rekindled my reading interest and helped me know myself more.

Goodbye bangalore. I will miss you, I will miss the bookshops, restaurants, traffic jams and busy lanes.

Miss ya

2007-06-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

Two years back, when i came to bangalore, far away from my hometown, i was apprehensive about being in a new city, away from my parents and starting a life on my own. I was all the more worried about being in a paying guest accommodation and sharing a room with someone else. Having a room all for myself for the first 21 years of my life, i was worried how my roommate would be, how will i adjust with her, etc.

Here, in bangalore, i met her. We got along with each other at the first go. We had similar interests and similar perspectives in many things. We both liked to be independent, we both loved reading, we both had hectic jobs and always came home at erratic hours. She was in fact the person who rekindled my interest in reading and the inspiration for this blog. Though i haven't met any of her friends in her office, I know all of them and what is happening in their lives and vice versa. There were even instances when we had enlightening conversations late into the night.

We both being single, we spend many lighter moments with each other. When pizzahut announces treat for two, i know with whom will i go to have a pizza, when a romantic movie comes to play in PVR, she knows with whom will she watch it. Despite being single, we both enjoyed whatever was meant for a couple, sans the hassles of a relationship(wow!!!). Once we even went to the nearby barista in our night dresses and had chocolate brownie. I still believe that the guy at the counter served the brownie only because we paid in advance.

We bitched about people who made us sad, we went coochy-coochy about handsome guys in office, we eased out our frustrations by having long conversations, we argued, we laughed, we talked about our dreams and ambitions well past midnight only to realise its too late for bed. She is one girl in my life whom i could relate to, so much. Someone who spoke my language, echoed my dreams and walked the world in my shoes. While other girls talked about boyfriends and husbands, we talked about books and authors. When others went gaga over recipes, we talked about our career goals.

Now when its time for me to move away from this city, i realise how much she meant to me. I will miss you my dear roomie. I hope we will meet each other often in our life to relive all those moments again and again.

Yet another year

2007-05-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

She was born on a rainy day many years ago.
During her childhood, she used to fall sick often,
giving many a sleepless night to her parents.
As she grew up, she lived life according to her terms.
She made her own rules, took her own decisions.
She did make mistakes and learnt from them.
But she was happy because those were her own decisions.
She always set high strandards for herself and tried hard to achieve them.
She achieved some and lost some others,
still being happy about how her life had turned out.
Passing years makes her happy and sad at the same time.
Happy because each year adds so many experiences to her life
and sad because the years are passing by and
she has so much to read, write, achieve, travel and experience.
She turns 23 today.

Happy Birthday girl!!!

Me, the chocoholic!!!

2007-05-11T02:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many years passed since I had been a chocoholic. I think I had always been one. I don't know how many people i have troubled in my childhood for a bar of chocolate. I continue to coax my friends and everyone around me, into buying me one.

I like the way those brown yummy squares(I don't mind even if they are round in shape, or for that matter any shape) melt in my mouth and give me that 'kick'. They say its the increased serotonin levels in my brain which gives me this feeling, whatever it is, I just love the feeling.

For the last couple of weeks, I was on abstinence. I was trying to be far away from those dark tempting yummy squares, rectangles and even spheres(All the different shapes that it comes in). Still, yesterday the carving overcame me and i succumbed to the temptation. I devoured one huge bar of chocolate even though i was feeling guilty deep inside for not conforming to the strict diet regime that i am following. This made me sit up, and i did a bit of research on Chocoholics and Chocolate, in general.

centralcoastcandies.com gives an interesting survey to check whether u are actually a chocoholic or not. The survey goes like this:

chocoholic (def): a person who has or claims to have an addiction to chocolate

* If you have more than 2 secret stashes of chocolate candy, you might be a chocoholic. (Be honest.)

Ummm... yes, I do keep secret stashes of chocolate, So that makes me a chocoholic? Oh!!!

* If your top 3 favorite candies all have chocolate in them, you might be a chocoholic.

Yes, all my top 3 favorite candies – Twix, Snickers and BarOne have chocolate in them.

* If you have more than 4 books at home on chocolate, you might be a chocoholic.

Nah!!! I don't have any books on chocolate.

* If your favorite dessert is chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice-cream on the side, then you might be a chocoholic.

My fav dessert must contain atleast one of the above mentioned things.

* If you name chocolate as one of the seven wonders of the world, you might be a chocoholic.

Yep, I do. I name chocolate the biggest wonder of the world!!! All other wonders comes after that.

* If you bookmark more than 2 websites on the health benefits of chocolate, then you might be a chocoholic.

Though i haven't done it yet, I think i should do it now on.

* If your favorite movie is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you might be a chocoholic.

I love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

* If you own more than one chocolate-related T-Shirt, you might be a chocoholic. (If you actually wear that chocolate T-Shirt in public, just admit it. You are a chocoholic.)

No, i don't have a chocolate-related T-shirt.

* If you name your first-born child after your favorite chocolate candy - then you are a definite, full fledged chocoholic.

No children yet. But yes, I am planning to have one named ferrero and another rocher :-)

Jokes apart, I think from the survey, its more or less clear that i am chocoholic!!!

Having found this, I tried to find out a number of facts about chocolate. I indeed found many interesting ones. Will post them in the next post.

Memoirs of a Geisha

2007-04-09T04:07:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading 'Memoirs of Geisha' by Arthur Golden. Set in Japan in early years of 20th century, it unravels the journey of a girl from small fishing village in Japan. The way she sees her life through rose tinted glasses during her childhood days, her bewilderment towards worldly affairs, her love for her fishing village, makes her strike a chord with us during the initial pages of the book. It is later followed by a elaborate description of the Geisha culture of Japan, and the struggle chiyo-san undergoes to finally emerge as a popular giesha, christened as Sayuri.

Unlike the popular tendency of relating a geisha to a prostitute, 'gei' in Japanese means art, geisha meaning an artist. Her principal aim is entertaining those around her, with tea ceremonies, playing shamsien and dancing. The book even gives us ghastly insights to how a young geisha's virginity is sold to the highest bidder. It also throws light into the Deep Depression Japan went through during the years of second world war.

There are several heart touching moments in the book. The innumerable attempts little chiyo makes to reunite with her sister, the tribulations she faces in the geisha house in Gion, the pain she endures when the persons whom she trusted the most, betrayed her, are a few of those. The book as a whole tells the tenacity and perseverance u need to have to make your dream a success, be it becoming a popular geisha or winning a man's heart.

Meanwhile, this is what japan-zone.com says about the current status of geisha culture in Japan.

Geisha do still exist and ply their trade, of course. But the role they play in modern society is minor and, except for the attention they get from camera-wielding tourists, largely unseen. In fact, most of the women captured on film are either maiko (apprentice geisha) or tourists themselves, done up for a few hours of faux sophistication and attention seeking.

The book is a must read for anyone who wants to know about the reality behind the Geisha culture of Japan.

Here goes 2006

2006-12-31T22:17:00.000-08:00

As the end of 2006 approaches, i can sense the joy of welcoming a whole new year. All of us had our own share of happy and sad moments during last year. We wanted things to happen in a particular way and some things did happen that way, while some others didn't. Last year we did make new year resolutions and tried to keep them. At times we broke them,modified them and tried to keep modified versions :-)

I was never in the habit of keeping new year resolutions. Because of the simple reason that i never felt January 1st is a special day (yeah, u heard me right). I always believed that if u can make a resolution on January 1st, u can make it on any other day. Whats so special about January 1st? If it not had been for Julius Caeser and Roman Calender, I wonder whether we would have been celebrating new year at January 1st. Forget about a new year, I wonder whether there would have been 12 months, with each of them christened accordingly. It would have been an endless string of days and months, which passes by, without making any special impact on our lives.

But on second thoughts, I feel the whole concept of new year has been there so that we can make fresh beginnings. Starting it all in a fresh new page, forgetting all the bad experiences, forgiving those who made us sad, striving to achieve our goals and hoping for a better tomorrow. As the new year approaches, i can feel the enthusiasm in air. Everybody is optimistic about the coming days. Everybody is hoping for a better tomorrow, though the definition of 'better' differs from person to person. Even i had my own share of wonderful and 'not so wonderful' experiences this year. Life has changed a lot in the last year, perspectives have changed, people moved in and out, yet i am here, struggling gracefully.

The things that went on the bright side are

1)I have started approaching life in a much more practical way.

2)I am trying not to be so hard on myself.

3)I am doing better in my job.

4)I have developed a number of hobbies, like reading, writing and sketching(A few of them were a part of me earlier and later went to oblivion).

5)I have increased my friends' circle.

The things went on the 'not so bright' side are

1)I have put on weight :-(

2)I still can't resist my temptation for chocolates and ice creams.

3)My job is consuming a fair share of my time, leaving me with lesser time for myself.

And here I make, those (dreadful??)resolutions for the first time.

1)Join a fitness club.

2)Manage my time well (read find more time for myself).

3)Learn pencil sketching (a long cherished one).

So we are all ready to welcome 2007. I wish you all a happy new year. Have a blast!!!

Oh !!!

2006-12-29T04:04:00.000-08:00

I thought Jack and Jill were two cute kids and Humpty-Dumpty was a cute fatso, until i read this.

A Unique Christmas Party

2006-12-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

It was a Christmas Party with a difference. There were neither flamboyant dresses nor big Christmas cakes. Yet it turned out to be one of the best Christmas parties i have ever attended. It happened last Saturday. About 3000 children and senior citizens celebrated their Christmas in Mount Carmel College. What made this party so special was the fact that all these children were students of 40 different special schools(schools specialized in teaching deaf, dumb, blind or mentally challenged children) located in and out of Bangalore. The senior citizens were residents of Old Age Homes located at different parts of the Bangalore. And I got an opportunity to volunteer for the event.

All of this was made possible by Chrysallis. Chrysallis - a theatre of performing arts for the specially challenged forms a group of like-minded people who want to bring a difference to the life of a specially challenged child. It conducts a number of events throughout the year, the biggest one being their Christmas Party.

My day as a volunteer started at 5 A.M. The fact that I got up that early to be a part of the event was in itself an achievement for me(considering the weird hours i got to sleep and eventually get up these days). I reached Mount Carmel College at 7 o'clock in the morning. The tasks assigned to our group were decorating the venue and face painting. We started off with hanging crepe papers, cut in different sizes and shapes and blowing balloons. It was nice to be with a whole lot of energetic people running around getting things done. Everybody was busy putting together the snacks packets, making sure that the water bottles are in place, arranging chairs and carpets and taking care of every small thing so that children will be at ease.

The volunteers included students, researchers, software professionals, teachers, housewives and self-employed people. There were children who came with their parents and wanted to volunteer for the event. And there were people as old as 50 years. We were from different states and spoke different languages. Yet the combined goal of making that day a special one for thousands of children brought us together. It was a wonderful to see how a common goal can bring a wide variety of people from different layers of social strata to work together.

The stage was all set for children by 9 o'clock. They started coming to the venue in buses and vans. We were ready with our paints and brushes. Face painting was a unique way to bond with the children. We asked them whether they want us to paint them on their face or hand. Though a few of the children were reluctant at first, when they saw us painting their friends' face and hands, they were ready to try it out. While girls wanted a smiley or a Christmas tree or a flower on their face, a moustache or French beard were popular among the boys. More than getting their faces or hands painted, the feeling that someone is ready to hold my hand, touch my face, talk to me, smile at me and ask me what do i want, was making them happy. They smiled at me and called me 'akka' or 'aunty'. They insisted that i paint their both hands and faces, though due to time constraints we decided earlier that we will paint either one hand or one face. Most of the times, i succumbed to their demands and did whatever they insisted. After all, it was meant to be their day.

I could see the children enjoying the party to its maximum. They sang, danced, clapped, that too in a number of ways. One was sunflower clap, another one a rocket clap and so on. The event included a magic show by a renowned magician and ventriloquist. I was awed by seeing the performances made by the children. There was a bunch of deaf and dumb girls dancing to a pep Kannada number. I saw blind children singing melodiously and mentally retarded children performing a drama with a well written script. It made me wonder whether me as a 'so called normal human being' is utilizing my talents to a good extend or not. At times, these children can teach u a lesson or two. They taught me how to communicate even if u don't know the language of each other. They taught me how to be compassionate to others. They taught me how to live the life to its fullest with whatever u are blessed with.

It was indeed a day of learnings. That day i found a whole new world, entirely different from mine. A world without deadlines and cut throat competition. A world where living life to its fullest with whatever little u have, is the mantra. In fact, it was a day i lived to its fullest.

120 seconds

2006-12-17T04:56:00.000-08:00

When my auto had stopped at the traffic signal, I looked at the timer. It showed 120 seconds. Damn! I cursed myself once again for being late for the seminar. My thoughts were fleeting between the seminar, the presentation and the time left with me to reach there. At times, my random thoughts were interrupted by horns, blown by vehicles rushing to the two side roads connected to the junction. I get increasingly irritated when people blow horns at the traffic signals. I looked at the timer again.

It showed 110 seconds...

I looked out of my autorickshaw. In the nearby vehicles, i could see people listening to music, talking over phones and browsing through magazines. All of them seemed to be mesmerized in a world of their own. Be it air-conditioned cars or two wheelers, people are occupied with their own thoughts. All of us have different destinations. As soon as that green light glows, we will all be rushing to our respective destinations. Just 120 seconds of togetherness.

90 seconds...

It was then I saw him. He was standing there with an intriguing face. We glanced at each other. There was something in his innocent eyes which held my glance for a longer time. He smiled at me, that too a very cute one and I found myself smiling back at him.

80 seconds...
He was wearing a torn shirt and dirty trousers. He couldn't be more than five years old. He was standing a few feet away from the road. He checked whether all the commuters are noticing him or not. Then as if to draw everybody's attention, he blew out a whistle. He was joined by another boy who looked one or two years older than him. They had a ring, a metal can and a stick with their hands.

60 seconds...
He held a ring up. Putting the ring through his head, he gyrated it at his hips a couple of times and let it fall off his body. He together with the other boy bend their bodies into a perfect circle and started rotating with the ring. The perfect synchronisation between the boys made the whole act to look like a rotating ball. The fact that they were doing all of this under blazing sun and the sheer innocence of their faces made my heart weep. With a few more somersaults, they stopped their act.

30 seconds...
Both of them started moving from one vehicle to another, with metal cups in their hands. They knocked at car windows and waited near some passengers hoping that they would be kind enough. While some of the passengers handed over a couple of coins, some blatantly ignored them. Some seemed to be too occupied in their conversations over their mobile phones. How mobile phone helps us to ignore those we want to, was quite visible for me that day. Some were even ready to get rid of them by scolding them.

10 seconds...
He came closer to the rickshaw in which i was sitting. He held out his can for me. I wanted to tell him something, but my inability to express myself in a language which he will understand, kept my lips seated. But i think my eyes conveyed something and he smiled at me once again. I didn't know whether the money i was giving him, finally went to someone else's pocket or not. Yet while putting a handful of coins into his can, I wished he could eat atleast one meal of the day to his heart's content. I could hear the groaning sound of the engine and my rickshaw rushed past the signal. But those 120 seconds lingered in my thoughts for a longer time.

Sand Houses

2006-12-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

The little girl always loved making sand houses by the seaside. She made them in innumerable sizes and shapes. The vast range of creativeness it offered made her happy. At times she wanted her houses to be a king's castle, while other times it was a peasant's house. At times she wanted all her houses to be perfect rectangular blocks, aligned in rows and columns, while some other times the lines bent to form arcs, circles and triangles.

Maybe her loneliness was one of the main reasons behind her fondness for sand houses. She wanted someone to listen to her. Who can do that better than a heap of sand? A heap of sand which can act as an interpreter between she and the sea? Who can translate her thoughts better to a gushing wind? Who can tell her worries to a falling rain in a better manner? So she protected her sand houses as if they were a part of her soul. In fact, she believed her sand houses alone formed her soul.

But making those sand houses was never an easy task for her. At times her houses were washed off by sea water or blown off by winds. Some other times they were demolished by jealous souls. Many people told her that she should be concentrating on other interesting things in life than building vulnerable sand houses. But being the persistent self, she never wanted to give up on the sand houses which she loved so much.

As each day passed by, she continued making them with increased fervor. She believed that one day she would be able to make a sand house that would withstand all the pressures. She ardently wished for that day when all the obstacles in front of her will move sideways and pave way for her. She waited for that day when all the people mocking at her at this point of time will actually be showering her with accolades.

Seasons passed by, climate changed from scorching heat of summer to leaf-shedding autumn to cold winter. She grew up to be a fine young woman still passionate about making sand houses. She still hopes that one day would be able to make that perfect sand house...

Adieu

2006-12-11T04:59:00.000-08:00

Life gives us an opportunity to be with different people. You get to meet a wide variety of them,with a gamut of characteristics. Some of them may be hot-tempered while some others sangfroid. Some sophisticated, while some others peurile. Some peevish, while some others congenial. While a few of them make u feel so uncomfortable, a few others remain your acquaintances and a few grow to be friends. Some others even become your alter egos and u keep wondering how u lived all these years without them. You get to learn a lot from all of them. Some of them make a difference in your life so much that u feel that pinch when they go away from u.

Today A is leaving the company i work for. I feel bewildered, sad and my heart is heavy with emotions. He had been my lead for so long a time and I have a learnt a lot from him. I am happy that he is relocating to a city he loves, he is going for a new job and new challenges. But i will miss the times we worked together, the way we used to pacify our clients, the afternoons i had lunch with his family, the evenings i played with his cute little kid. But wherever he goes and whatever he does, my best wishes will always be with him.

Maybe my cheese is moved, but i will have to find a way to get it back.

-dewdrop

Strand Book Fair

2006-12-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

I couldn't have found a better place for spending my sunday afternoon. A place where i was surrounded by so many of books. Being surrounded by so many books had always given me a high. I was planning to go to Strand Book Fair for quite some time, but had neither the time nor the oppurtuinity to do so. Strand Books' legacy of offering a minimum of 20% discount on the books and the wide coverage given by media were adding to my excitement so much that Sunday morning i decided, be it rain or fall i am going there today.

Even if it was a lazy sunday afternoon, all the three halls where the Book Fair was being conducted in the Chinnaswamy Stadium was filled with people. Childrens rummaging over the tables containing comics, couples discussing whether 'Freakonomics' would make a good read or not, friends recommending books for each other, elderly people moving slowly from one table to another were the common sights. All of them had two things in common - a carry bag full of books and a passion for reading. It was nice to see so many ardent readers discussing fervently which book to buy and which not. Even with so many technological gadgets occupying our attention and space, books remain a man's best friend till date.

In my childhood, books came to me weaving a magical world of fairies, dwarfs, princesses, princes, kings and queens. They brought with them Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Pinochio, Peter Pan and Cindrella. In my dreams these characters flocked in once in a while giving me an interesting story to remember for days to come.Those years, everything that i read had a mystical aura surrounding it. Years passed by and books came to me as Diamond Comics, Sherlock Holmes, Famous Five and Princess Diaries. After that they came to me as Three Men in a Boat and a few more. Then came the huge bunch of technological books and somewhere in the process of mugging them up i lost my magical world. I lost everything magical about books and they became mere huge chunks of papers which i have to eat up to score more in my exams, to get into a good engineering college, to get a good job and the list went on. I had become too busy cramming them up that i lost in touch any book other than my text books. After all, your priorities at a particular point of time govern your interests to a certain extend.

But now i have to catch up with all those years which i have spent ignoring my books. I am trying to find as much time as possible to read. I want to be in the world of Somerset Maugham and Charles Dickens. I want to read 'World is Flat' and 'Freakonomics'. I want to discuss books with my friends. I want to own all the lovely books in this world. All in all I want to be in that magical world yet again.

-dewdrop

New Start

2006-12-06T04:09:00.000-08:00

After abandoning my previous blog for almost an year, i hope to have a fresh start here. Go blogging !!!